Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Trading Down 6.1% – Here’s What Happened

Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) shares fell 6.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $103.25 and last traded at $102.1210. 411,764 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 366,971 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOVT has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Novanta from $139.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novanta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novanta presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $133.00.

Novanta Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.05 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.54.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. Novanta had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 6.41%.The firm had revenue of $247.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.240-3.300 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.870-0.930 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Novanta declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 18th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novanta

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Novanta by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,378,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $438,546,000 after purchasing an additional 193,366 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Novanta by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,579,626 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $203,661,000 after buying an additional 214,374 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Novanta by 10.6% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,100,029 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $141,827,000 after purchasing an additional 104,985 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Novanta by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 988,969 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $127,508,000 after buying an additional 54,934 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 5.5% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 979,893 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $126,338,000 after acquiring an additional 51,005 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novanta Company 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.