Peregrine Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Peregrine Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,020 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,140,000. Nova comprises about 2.4% of Peregrine Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Nova by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Nova by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,753 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new stake in Nova in the fourth quarter worth about $2,813,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in Nova by 7.6% in 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 buying an additional 97,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its stake in shares of Nova by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 296,307 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,423,000 after buying an additional 67,734 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Nova in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup upgraded Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.67.

Nova Stock Performance

NVMI opened at $267.97 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.99, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.44. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $154.54 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $223.02 and a 200 day moving average of $207.65.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.50 million. Nova had a return on equity of 21.35% and a net margin of 28.00%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 5.78 earnings per share 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.