American Century Companies Inc. Cuts Position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its position in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 224,699 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 56,906 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.77% of Nova worth $52,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in Nova by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,195,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $280,494,000 after buying an additional 80,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nova by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $175,087,000 after acquiring an additional 14,115 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Nova by 3.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 803,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $142,408,000 after acquiring an additional 23,668 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Nova by 74.9% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 604,977 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $83,202,000 after acquiring an additional 259,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Nova by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 556,839 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $130,258,000 after acquiring an additional 122,218 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Price Performance

Shares of NVMI opened at $189.27 on Tuesday. Nova Ltd. has a 1-year low of $90.59 and a 1-year high of $247.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $213.25 and a 200 day moving average of $202.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.61, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.12 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NVMI. Citigroup lowered shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $273.00 to $224.00 in a report on Monday. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.80.

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.