Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Holdings Lifted by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 165,710 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Nova were worth $32,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Nova by 438.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 140 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Nova by 89.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Nova by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Nova in the 4th quarter valued at about $112,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Nova by 79.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.83.

Nova Trading Up 1.8 %

Nova stock opened at $219.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.18, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $240.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.27. Nova Ltd. has a 52 week low of $158.00 and a 52 week high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.50 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. Research analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova Profile

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.