SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Invests $112,000 in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 568 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NVMI. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Nova by 6.1% during 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 last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Nova by 89.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Nova by 438.5% during 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 last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Nova by 3.2% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $840,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Nova by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,753 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,527,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nova Trading Up 4.8 %

NVMI stock opened at $226.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. Nova Ltd. has a 12-month low of $158.00 and a 12-month high of $289.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $238.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.52.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on NVMI. Citigroup raised Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Nova in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $246.67.

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.