NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on NVCR. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NovoCure from $13.50 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. HC Wainwright set a $32.00 price objective on NovoCure in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush upped their target price on NovoCure from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of NovoCure in a research report on Monday, July 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of NovoCure in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.20.

NovoCure Stock Performance

Shares of NovoCure stock opened at $17.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.32 and a beta of 0.96. NovoCure has a twelve month low of $9.82 and a twelve month high of $21.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.31 and its 200 day moving average is $14.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.20. The business had revenue of $183.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.44 million. NovoCure had a negative return on equity of 44.00% and a negative net margin of 21.25%.NovoCure’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.36) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NovoCure will post -1.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NovoCure news, Director Jeryl L. Hilleman sold 2,945 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total value of $46,442.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,587.97. The trade was a 17.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director W Anthony Vernon sold 2,945 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total value of $46,442.65. Following the transaction, the director owned 197,657 shares in the company, valued at $3,117,050.89. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold 51,943 shares of company stock worth $893,171 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NovoCure

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in NovoCure by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,958,209 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $141,690,000 after purchasing an additional 502,368 shares during the period. Soleus Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in NovoCure by 25.0% in the second quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,904,302 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $122,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382,888 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of NovoCure by 453.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,069,895 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $65,554,000 after purchasing an additional 4,153,741 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of NovoCure by 23.7% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 2,487,376 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,112,000 after purchasing an additional 477,128 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of NovoCure by 38.8% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,270,076 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $40,407,000 after purchasing an additional 634,925 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

About NovoCure

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.