Key Points
- Insider sale: Nova insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares for approximately $1.40 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing their holdings by 15.29% to 21,409 shares.
- Business performance: Nova exceeded quarterly expectations with $2.51 in EPS and $254.96 million in revenue, up 15.9% year over year. The company also authorized a $200 million share buyback, representing up to 1.9% of outstanding shares.
- Market view: Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $514.44, despite several firms recently lowering their targets. Institutional investors own approximately 82.99% of the stock.
Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares of Nova stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.28, for a total transaction of $1,403,713.92. Following the transaction, the insider owned 21,409 shares in the company, valued at $7,777,461.52. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Nova Price Performance
Shares of NVMI stock opened at $369.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.79, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.76. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $266.43 and a 1 year high of $615.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $388.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $457.45.
Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $254.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $250.33 million. Nova had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 28.84%.Nova's revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.
Nova announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, September 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms recently weighed in on NVMI. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Nova in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on Nova from $595.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Nova from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Nova from $640.00 to $570.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nova has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $514.44.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on NVMI
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NVMI. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Nova in the second quarter worth approximately $276,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nova by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,383 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Nova by 688.9% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 71 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 175.0% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 65,163 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,380,000 after acquiring an additional 10,690 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About Nova
(
Get Free Report)
Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) is an Israel-based provider of metrology and process-control solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company develops systems that help chip manufacturers measure and control critical process parameters during wafer fabrication, supporting the production of increasingly small and complex semiconductor devices.
Nova's product portfolio includes optical and x-ray metrology systems, dimensional and materials measurement solutions, chemical metrology tools, and integrated metrology systems that can be incorporated into semiconductor production equipment.
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