Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Cuts Stock Position in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC cut its holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,411 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,968 shares during the quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Novanta were worth $3,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novanta in the third quarter valued at approximately $232,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Novanta by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Novanta by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 120,566 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,419,000 after purchasing an additional 4,648 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Novanta by 110.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 100,259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,938,000 after purchasing an additional 52,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Novanta by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 439,390 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $78,616,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NOVT opened at $142.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.79. Novanta Inc. has a one year low of $136.02 and a one year high of $187.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.62 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $147.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.02.

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

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.