Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 17,711 Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership reduced its holdings in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 455,334 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 17,711 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Novanta were worth $69,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Novanta during the third quarter worth about $232,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Novanta by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Novanta by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 120,566 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,419,000 after purchasing an additional 4,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novanta by 110.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 100,259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,938,000 after acquiring an additional 52,573 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Novanta by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 439,390 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $78,616,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Novanta Stock Down 2.0 %

NOVT stock opened at $132.53 on Friday. Novanta Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.03 and a twelve month high of $187.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.36 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $143.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $158.93. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.52%. The company had revenue of $238.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

About Novanta

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.