317,092 Shares in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) Purchased by Norges Bank

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 317,092 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,442,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 0.88% of Novanta at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Novanta during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Novanta during the 4th quarter valued at $97,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novanta by 6,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 726 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novanta in the 3rd quarter worth $232,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novanta during the third quarter worth $257,000. Institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Novanta Stock Down 10.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $104.12 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.97. Novanta Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.71 and a 52 week high of $187.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.79. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 62.35 and a beta of 1.42.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $240.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.