Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 3,272 Shares of Novanta Inc. $NOVT

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 51.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,666 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,272 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Novanta were worth $1,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Novanta by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Novanta by 1.0% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Novanta by 4.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Novanta by 29.0% in the second quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 671 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Novanta by 80.0% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 414 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novanta Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of Novanta stock opened at $132.48 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.90. Novanta Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.76 and a 1 year high of $184.11. The company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.93 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. Novanta had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 6.41%.The business had revenue of $247.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.240-3.300 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.870-0.930 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Novanta announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 18th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NOVT shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novanta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Novanta from $139.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novanta presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $133.00.

Novanta Company Profile

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.