Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 3,881 Shares of Novanta Inc. $NOVT

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 39.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,692 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,881 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Novanta were worth $1,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NOVT. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Novanta by 1.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 485,196 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,042,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Novanta by 163.8% during the 1st quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 38,823 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Novanta by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 693,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $88,626,000 after purchasing an additional 12,921 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Novanta by 39.9% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 19,999 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,557,000 after buying an additional 5,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Novanta in the first quarter valued at $16,075,000. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Novanta Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NOVT stock opened at $112.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.54. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.44 and a beta of 1.54. Novanta Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.27 and a 52-week high of $173.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.58.

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

Novanta declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Novanta

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.