Sphera Funds Management LTD. Acquires 16,186 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Sphera Funds Management LTD. raised its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,146 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 16,186 shares during the period. Nova accounts for 2.4% of Sphera Funds Management LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Sphera Funds Management LTD. owned 0.23% of Nova worth $13,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Nova by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,688 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Nova by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Nova by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its stake in Nova by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its stake in Nova by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 4,742 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on NVMI. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.00.

Nova Stock Down 2.0%

Nova stock opened at $195.13 on Friday. Nova Ltd. has a twelve month low of $154.00 and a twelve month high of $289.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $191.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.16. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.10. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The firm had revenue of $213.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 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.