Arizona State Retirement System Grows Holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT – Get Rating) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,057 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Novanta were worth $1,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOVT. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Novanta by 59.4% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,076,115 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $471,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518,242 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Novanta by 56.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,127,590 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $130,406,000 after purchasing an additional 405,731 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Novanta by 130.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 361,354 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,791,000 after purchasing an additional 204,681 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novanta by 1,507.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 123,581 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,791,000 after purchasing an additional 115,893 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novanta by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,395,330 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $392,670,000 after purchasing an additional 100,437 shares during the period. 97.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novanta Stock Performance

Novanta stock opened at $161.37 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $153.97 and its 200-day moving average is $151.72. The company has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.96 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.53. Novanta Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.84 and a 12 month high of $173.10.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The technology company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $219.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.22 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 8.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Novanta Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NOVT shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Novanta from $150.00 to $161.00 in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Novanta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday.

Novanta Company Profile

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Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.