Brokerages Set Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Target Price at $238.33

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $246.67.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NVMI. Citigroup upgraded Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Nova in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Nova by 131.0% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,540 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,821,000 after buying an additional 7,678 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 74.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,281,869 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $267,487,000 after purchasing an additional 547,833 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Nova by 121.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 145,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,230,000 after purchasing an additional 79,700 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Nova during the third quarter worth $15,669,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Nova in the third quarter valued at about $967,000. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $273.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a PE ratio of 50.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $224.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.21. Nova has a 12 month low of $154.54 and a 12 month high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its quarterly 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). Nova had a return on equity of 21.35% and a net margin of 28.00%. The business had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.50 million. On average, research analysts expect that Nova will post 5.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.