Raymond James & Associates Decreases Stock Holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Raymond James & Associates trimmed its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,832 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 659 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.07% of Nova worth $4,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Nova in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $68,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Nova in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $79,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Nova by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN purchased a new stake in shares of Nova during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Nova during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVMI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup lowered shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.80.

Nova Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ NVMI opened at $184.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.46, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.47. Nova Ltd. has a 52-week low of $98.19 and a 52-week high of $247.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $201.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.22.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.12 million. Nova had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 27.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 5.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Nova

Nova Ltd. designs, develops, produces, and sells process control systems used in the manufacture of semiconductors in Israel, Taiwan, the United States, China, Korea, and internationally. Its product portfolio includes a set of metrology platforms for dimensional, films, and materials and chemical metrology measurements for process control for various semiconductor manufacturing process steps, including lithography, etch, chemical mechanical planarization, deposition, electrochemical plating, and advanced packaging.