Citigroup Downgrades Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) to Neutral

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) was downgraded by equities researchers at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $224.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $273.00. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 8.36% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Benchmark raised their price objective on Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.80.

Nova Price Performance

Shares of NVMI opened at $206.71 on Monday. Nova has a 1 year low of $90.59 and a 1 year high of $247.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.33. The firm has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. Nova had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The firm had revenue of $156.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nova will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nova by 7.2% during the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,195,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $280,494,000 after acquiring an additional 80,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Nova by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $175,087,000 after purchasing an additional 14,115 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Nova by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 803,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $142,408,000 after buying an additional 23,668 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Nova by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 645,203 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $151,319,000 after buying an additional 200,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its stake in shares of Nova by 74.9% during the fourth quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 604,977 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $83,202,000 after buying an additional 259,021 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Company 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.