Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 49.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 47,295 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.50% of Nova worth $19,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nova during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new position in Nova during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new position in Nova during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Olympiad Research LP bought a new position in Nova during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Finally, Bank Hapoalim BM lifted its position in Nova by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank Hapoalim BM now owns 2,166 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NVMI. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Nova in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Nova from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Nova in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Nova from $187.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.25.

Nova Trading Down 1.6 %

NVMI opened at $230.52 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a PE ratio of 53.12, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.42. Nova Ltd. has a 1-year low of $90.59 and a 1-year high of $242.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $203.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.82.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The semiconductor company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $141.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $136.78 million. Nova had a net margin of 26.26% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.