Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $134.69 and last traded at $134.97, with a volume of 239586 shares. The stock had previously closed at $136.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Stock Down 1.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.82 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $146.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $162.07.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novanta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOVT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Novanta during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,442,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Novanta by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 680,169 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $103,910,000 after acquiring an additional 279,793 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Novanta during the fourth quarter valued at about $15,104,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Novanta by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 271,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,359,000 after acquiring an additional 93,511 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Novanta by 2,714.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 88,297 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,489,000 after acquiring an additional 85,160 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.