Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on NVMI. Evercore set a $475.00 price target on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Nova from $494.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $514.44.

Nova Price Performance

NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $394.48 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $12.54 billion, a PE ratio of 48.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $376.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $453.73. Nova has a 1-year low of $266.43 and a 1-year high of $615.99.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.10. Nova had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 28.84%.The firm had revenue of $254.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nova will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, September 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nova news, CEO Gabriel Waisman sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.27, for a total value of $513,405.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,314,535.78. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.28, for a total transaction of $1,403,713.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 21,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,777,461.52. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Nova during the 2nd quarter valued at about $391,367,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Nova by 47.5% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,166,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $940,683,000 after purchasing an additional 697,210 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Nova during the second quarter worth approximately $308,300,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Nova during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,158,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Nova during the second quarter valued at approximately $82,530,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

About Nova

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) is an Israel-based provider of process control and metrology solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company develops systems that help chipmakers measure and control critical wafer characteristics during production, supporting improvements in process performance, yield and device quality.

Its product portfolio includes optical and X-ray metrology systems used to measure dimensions, film thickness, material composition and other parameters across semiconductor manufacturing processes.