Blue Trust Inc. Raises Holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Nova were worth $251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 131.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,540 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,821,000 after purchasing an additional 7,678 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 74.6% during the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,281,869 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $267,487,000 after purchasing an additional 547,833 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Nova by 121.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 145,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,230,000 after buying an additional 79,700 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Nova in the third quarter valued at about $15,669,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Nova in the third quarter valued at about $967,000. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVMI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Nova in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upgraded Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.67.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of NVMI stock opened at $273.08 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $209.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a PE ratio of 47.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.44. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $154.54 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $194.77 million during 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current 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.