Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stake Trimmed by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 28,083 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.31% of Nova worth $17,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP boosted its position in Nova by 438.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 140 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nova by 89.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nova by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nova by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Nova in the third quarter worth approximately $257,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Nova in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nova has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.67.

Nova Price Performance

Shares of Nova stock opened at $259.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $232.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.16. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $158.00 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The company has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a PE ratio of 45.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.44.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.50 million. Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. 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.