Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,123,828 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 62,585 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.48% of Novanta worth $629,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novanta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Novanta during the 4th quarter valued at $97,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Novanta by 6,500.0% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 726 shares of the technology company's stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Novanta by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,500 shares of the technology company's stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Novanta during the third quarter valued at $232,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

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Novanta Trading Down 10.0 %

Shares of NOVT traded down $11.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $104.12. 1,351,813 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 180,882. Novanta Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.87 and a 12 month high of $187.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.35 and a beta of 1.42. The stock's 50-day moving average is $139.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.97.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.29 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Novanta

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.