Royce & Associates LP Increases Stock Position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 33.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 146,937 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,089 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Nova were worth $30,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nova by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,273,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $265,422,000 after purchasing an additional 78,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nova by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $175,087,000 after purchasing an additional 14,115 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nova by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 803,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $142,408,000 after purchasing an additional 23,668 shares in the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nova by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 647,722 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $135,513,000 after purchasing an additional 90,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Nova by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 645,203 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $151,319,000 after purchasing an additional 200,816 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Stock Performance

NVMI stock opened at $190.26 on Friday. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $117.64 and a 1 year high of $247.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $197.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.68. The firm has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.50, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark boosted their price target on Nova from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.80.

Nova Company Profile

Nova Ltd. designs, develops, produces, and sells process control systems used in the manufacture of semiconductors in Israel, Taiwan, the United States, China, Korea, and internationally. Its product portfolio includes a set of metrology platforms for dimensional, films, and materials and chemical metrology measurements for process control for various semiconductor manufacturing process steps, including lithography, etch, chemical mechanical planarization, deposition, electrochemical plating, and advanced packaging.