Sei Investments Co. Buys 25,728 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,153 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,728 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.50% of Nova worth $28,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nova during the 4th quarter worth approximately $440,000. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Nova by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 165,710 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,637,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its stake in Nova by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 5,032 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $991,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Nova by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,576 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,482,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Nova by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,133 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nova Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ NVMI opened at $201.37 on Wednesday. Nova Ltd. has a 1-year low of $158.00 and a 1-year high of $289.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $237.63 and a 200-day moving average of $210.71. The firm has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.08, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46.

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). The business had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.50 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. On average, analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NVMI. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Benchmark upped their price objective on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.83.

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.