Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 3,922 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lowered its stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 81.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 3,922 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Nova were worth $177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Nova by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,133 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nova by 79.6% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Nova during the 4th quarter worth $611,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Nova during the 4th quarter worth $6,541,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP grew its stake in shares of Nova by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 3,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NVMI opened at $226.02 on Monday. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $158.00 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The stock has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $238.58 and a 200-day moving average of $211.39.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its 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). 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 analysts’ expectations of $186.50 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on NVMI. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upgraded Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Nova in a report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nova has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.67.

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.