Benchmark Boosts Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Price Target to $245.00

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Benchmark from $240.00 to $245.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Benchmark’s price target indicates a potential upside of 23.94% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday. Citigroup downgraded Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.80.

Nova Price Performance

NVMI opened at $197.68 on Friday. Nova has a 12 month low of $102.23 and a 12 month high of $247.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $198.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.47.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released 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 firm had revenue of $156.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.12 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 20.76%. Nova’s revenue was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nova will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Nova

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 89.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Nova during 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 boosted its holdings in Nova by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $180,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new stake in Nova in the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.