Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $246.67.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NVMI shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Nova in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Institutional Trading of Nova

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Nova by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,688 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nova by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Nova by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its stake in Nova by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Nova by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 4,742 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nova Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $226.02 on Friday. Nova has a fifty-two week low of $158.00 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $238.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.52.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The firm had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.50 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Nova will post 7.52 EPS for the current 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.