Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Reduces Position in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its position in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 281,255 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 8,218 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Novanta were worth $42,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Novanta by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,123,828 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $629,997,000 after purchasing an additional 62,585 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Novanta by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,298,419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $232,313,000 after acquiring an additional 24,929 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in Novanta by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 975,841 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $149,079,000 after purchasing an additional 11,361 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novanta by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 852,638 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $130,257,000 after purchasing an additional 72,592 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Novanta by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 793,359 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $119,757,000 after purchasing an additional 58,631 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Novanta Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ NOVT opened at $132.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a PE ratio of 79.36 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $143.32 and its 200 day moving average is $158.93. Novanta Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.03 and a twelve month high of $187.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. Novanta had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The firm had revenue of $238.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Profile

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.