Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 797 Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its stake in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT – Get Rating) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 660,600 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 797 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.85% of Novanta worth $89,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Novanta by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,506 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Novanta by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 10,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Ellevest Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novanta by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 254 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Novanta by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Novanta by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 9,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NOVT. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Novanta from $150.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Novanta Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $162.53 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $156.36 and a 200 day moving average of $153.31. The stock has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.59 and a beta of 1.30. Novanta Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.84 and a 12 month high of $173.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.10. Novanta had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 19.70%. The company had revenue of $219.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Novanta

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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.