57,546 Shares in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 57,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,358,000. Norges Bank owned 0.20% of Nova at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Nova by 115.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 661,282 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $146,515,000 after purchasing an additional 353,906 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,383,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,517,000 after buying an additional 101,470 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Nova by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,370,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $270,015,000 after buying an additional 97,000 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Nova during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,659,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in Nova by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 296,307 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,423,000 after buying an additional 67,734 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NVMI shares. Citigroup raised Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a report 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 dropped their price objective on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their target price on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.83.

Nova Price Performance

Shares of Nova stock opened at $170.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $226.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.70. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $154.00 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The firm has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.63.

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 firm had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.50 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current 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.