Cantor Fitzgerald Lowers Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Price Target to $300.00

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) had its target price dropped by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald from $315.00 to $300.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target indicates a potential upside of 36.24% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NVMI. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.83.

Nova Price Performance

Shares of NVMI traded up $4.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $220.19. 24,284 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 201,981. Nova has a fifty-two week low of $158.00 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $239.98 and a 200-day moving average of $211.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The business had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.50 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Nova will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Nova by 438.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 140 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Nova by 89.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Nova during the 4th quarter worth $112,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Nova by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 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.