Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Cuts Stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lessened its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 81.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 3,922 shares during the quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Nova were worth $177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nova by 89.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Nova by 438.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 140 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Nova by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NVMI. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Benchmark upped their price target on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upgraded Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Nova in a report on Monday, January 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $246.67.

Nova Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of NVMI stock opened at $226.02 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $238.58 and its 200 day moving average is $211.39. The stock has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.38, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. Nova Ltd. has a twelve month low of $158.00 and a twelve month high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The business had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.50 million. Equities research analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova 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.