Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Sells 201,000 Shares of NovoCure Limited $NVCR

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lessened its holdings in NovoCure Limited (NASDAQ:NVCR) by 21.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 726,400 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 201,000 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in NovoCure were worth $7,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in NovoCure during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of NovoCure in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of NovoCure by 662.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,100 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 3,562 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of NovoCure during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NovoCure during the 1st quarter worth approximately $87,000. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NovoCure

In other news, Director Allyson J. Ocean sold 2,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total transaction of $46,442.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,579.48. This represents a 20.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Timothy J. Scannell sold 2,945 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total value of $46,442.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 14,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $225,321.76. This represents a 17.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 51,943 shares of company stock valued at $893,171. 5.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NVCR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on NovoCure from $13.50 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of NovoCure in a report on Friday, May 1st. HC Wainwright set a $32.00 target price on shares of NovoCure in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NovoCure from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of NovoCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NovoCure has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.20.

NovoCure Stock Down 4.2%

NASDAQ NVCR opened at $16.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of -12.55 and a beta of 0.94. NovoCure Limited has a one year low of $9.82 and a one year high of $21.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.70.

NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $183.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.44 million. NovoCure had a negative return on equity of 44.00% and a negative net margin of 21.25%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.36) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NovoCure Limited will post -1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NovoCure Company Profile

NovoCure is a global oncology company pioneering Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), a novel anti-mitotic therapy for solid tumors. The company’s non-invasive treatment platforms deliver low-intensity, alternating electric fields designed to disrupt cancer cell division. NovoCure’s approach offers an alternative modality to complement existing therapies in oncology, with a focus on hard-to-treat malignancies.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Haifa, Israel, NovoCure maintains a second operational center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.