Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Hold Rating for Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Nova from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark raised their target price on Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $227.80.

Nova Stock Performance

Nova stock traded down $8.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $197.63. The stock had a trading volume of 336,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 187,373. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $198.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of 42.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.47. Nova has a twelve month low of $102.23 and a twelve month high of $247.21.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.12 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Nova will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Nova

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVMI. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in Nova by 6.5% during the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,273,985 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $265,422,000 after acquiring an additional 78,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nova by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $175,087,000 after purchasing an additional 14,115 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Nova by 3.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 803,025 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $142,408,000 after buying an additional 23,668 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its holdings in Nova by 16.3% during the third quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 647,722 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $135,513,000 after buying an additional 90,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Nova by 45.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 645,203 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $151,319,000 after buying an additional 200,816 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nova Company 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.