Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on the stock from $169.00 to $160.00. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Novanta traded as low as $136.02 and last traded at $139.83, with a volume of 300155 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $143.37.

Institutional Trading of Novanta

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NOVT. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in Novanta by 7.2% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,151 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $742,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Novanta by 12.7% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $953,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Novanta by 28.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 963 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Novanta by 13.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,512 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novanta by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 780,046 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $139,566,000 after purchasing an additional 8,574 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novanta Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 83.73 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $163.68.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.29 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Novanta

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.