Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $145.98, but opened at $134.00. Novanta shares last traded at $124.5040, with a volume of 153,398 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NOVT. Robert W. Baird set a $194.00 target price on shares of Novanta in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Novanta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novanta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Novanta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.00.

Novanta Stock Down 0.3%

The company has a quick ratio of 3.79, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $141.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.45. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.13 and a beta of 1.71.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 9th. The technology company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.08. Novanta had a net margin of 4.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $305.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.02 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. Novanta’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.70 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novanta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in Novanta by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,436,785 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $233,005,000 after acquiring an additional 97,621 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novanta by 615.8% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 34,631 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,619,000 after purchasing an additional 29,793 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Novanta by 18.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 456,241 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,887,000 after purchasing an additional 70,728 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Novanta during the second quarter valued at about $5,797,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Novanta by 10.5% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 460,896 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $74,776,000 after purchasing an additional 43,659 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Novanta

Novanta develops and manufactures precision technologies used in medical and advanced industrial applications. Its products include photonics and laser components, precision motion-control systems, machine-vision technologies, and related equipment and software. The company’s technologies are used in areas such as medical and surgical systems, life sciences, robotics, and industrial automation. Novanta serves customers internationally, with operations and customers across North America, Europe, and Asia.