Aberdeen Group plc Purchases 3,883,199 Shares of Novanta Inc. $NOVT

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group purchased 3,883,199 Novanta shares in the third quarter, worth about $552 million, making the company a 0.6% portfolio holding and Aberdeen’s 28th-largest position.
• Analyst views are mixed: ratings span buy, hold and sell, with a consensus Hold rating and a $175 price target.
• Novanta beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $1.05 versus $0.97 expected and revenue of $305 million; revenue rose 23.1% year over year.

Aberdeen Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,883,199 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $552,152,000. Novanta accounts for approximately 0.6% of Aberdeen Group plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned 10.27% of Novanta as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Novanta by 7.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,436,785 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $233,005,000 after buying an additional 97,621 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Novanta by 615.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 34,631 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,619,000 after acquiring an additional 29,793 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Novanta by 18.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 456,241 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $53,887,000 after purchasing an additional 70,728 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Novanta in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,797,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Novanta by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 460,896 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $74,776,000 after buying an additional 43,659 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOVT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Novanta from $194.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised Novanta from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, November 7th. Zacks Research downgraded Novanta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Novanta from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $175.00.

Novanta Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NOVT stock opened at $118.88 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $140.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 3.79 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a PE ratio of 32.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.71. Novanta Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.27 and a fifty-two week high of $176.38.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 9th. The technology company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $305.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $301.02 million. Novanta had a net margin of 4.89% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Novanta Profile

Novanta develops and manufactures precision technologies used in medical and advanced industrial applications. Its products include photonics and laser components, precision motion-control systems, machine-vision technologies, and related equipment and software. The company's technologies are used in areas such as medical and surgical systems, life sciences, robotics, and industrial automation. Novanta serves customers internationally, with operations and customers across North America, Europe, and Asia.

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