Bank Hapoalim BM Cuts Position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Bank Hapoalim BM decreased its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,219 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 685 shares during the period. Bank Hapoalim BM’s holdings in Nova were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Nova in the second quarter valued at approximately $68,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nova in the second quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Nova by 15.9% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new stake in Nova in the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Nova in the second quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Trading Down 2.6 %

Nova stock traded down $5.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $192.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 184,881. Nova Ltd. has a twelve month low of $92.68 and a twelve month high of $247.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $202.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.08, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVMI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.80.

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.