Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Price Target Raised to $245.00 at Benchmark

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Benchmark from $240.00 to $245.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.75% from the stock’s previous close.

NVMI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nova currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.80.

Nova Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $206.32 on Friday. Nova has a 12-month low of $102.23 and a 12-month high of $247.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $198.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.60. The firm has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 42.89, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.47.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. Nova had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 27.38%. The business had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Nova will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NVMI. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in Nova by 6.5% in 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 buying an additional 78,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 14,115 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nova by 3.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 803,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $142,408,000 after acquiring an additional 23,668 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Nova by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 647,722 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $135,513,000 after purchasing an additional 90,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 645,203 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $151,319,000 after purchasing an additional 200,816 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

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.