Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 59,164 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) by 84.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 128,854 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 59,164 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.44% of Nova worth $30,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVMI. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nova in the second quarter worth $79,000. OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Nova in the second quarter worth $205,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nova in the second quarter worth $232,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Nova by 46.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,038 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Nova in the first quarter worth $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Nova Trading Down 1.5 %

NVMI traded down $3.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $232.93. 127,758 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 184,192. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.08. The company has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.67, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.47. Nova Ltd. has a 52-week low of $90.59 and a 52-week high of $247.21.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.12 million. Nova had a net margin of 26.26% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVMI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Nova from $223.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Nova from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Nova in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated 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 five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $236.60.

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.