Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Sold by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership cut its position in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 43.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 174,685 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 136,132 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Nova were worth $34,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in shares of Nova by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,383,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,517,000 after buying an additional 101,470 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in Nova by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,370,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $270,015,000 after acquiring an additional 97,000 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its holdings in Nova by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,169,625 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $230,358,000 after acquiring an additional 11,915 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Nova by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,047,782 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $205,985,000 after acquiring an additional 14,667 shares during the period. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its stake in Nova by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 713,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $140,455,000 after acquiring an additional 65,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Nova Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $191.68 on Thursday. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $158.00 and a 1 year high of $289.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $230.85 and a 200-day moving average of $210.17. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The company had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.50 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current year.

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.