Axa S.A. Reduces Stake in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

AXA S.A. reduced its holdings in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 497,487 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 9,852 shares during the period. AXA S.A. owned about 1.38% of Novanta worth $76,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NOVT. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Novanta by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,500 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Novanta by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 120,566 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,419,000 after acquiring an additional 4,648 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novanta in the 4th quarter valued at $5,298,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in Novanta by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 14,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Novanta by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 793,359 shares of the technology company's stock worth $119,757,000 after buying an additional 58,631 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Stock Performance

NOVT stock traded up $3.79 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $122.70. 82,368 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 286,370. Novanta Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.76 and a 1-year high of $187.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $124.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.73. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.47 and a beta of 1.51.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $233.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $233.34 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.52%. Novanta's revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

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.