Nicholas Company Inc. Buys 13,944 Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Nicholas Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 65.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,369 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 13,944 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Novanta worth $5,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Novanta during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Novanta during the 4th quarter valued at about $97,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Novanta by 6,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 726 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Novanta by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,059 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Associated Banc Corp bought a new stake in Novanta during the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. Institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Novanta Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ NOVT opened at $136.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.79. The company has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.48 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $145.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $161.42. Novanta Inc. has a one year low of $133.17 and a one year high of $187.12.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. Novanta had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business had revenue of $238.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Profile

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.