Blair William & Co. IL Decreases Position in Novanta Inc. $NOVT

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in Novanta Inc. by 40.8%, now holding about 0.72% of the company, worth approximately $33.44 million.
• Novanta reported second-quarter earnings of $0.76 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $241.05 million, a 2.2% year-over-year increase.
• The company's Board of Directors initiated a $200 million stock buyback program, indicating confidence in its stock's value.

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT - Free Report) by 40.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 259,358 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 178,553 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.72% of Novanta worth $33,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NOVT. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Novanta by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,525 shares of the technology company's stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in shares of Novanta by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 7,600 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novanta during the second quarter worth about $205,000. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Novanta during the second quarter worth about $131,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Novanta during the second quarter worth approximately $326,000. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novanta Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ NOVT opened at $105.42 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $113.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 62.01 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Novanta Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.76 and a 52-week high of $184.11.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $241.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $237.97 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 6.41%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.220-3.360 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.780-0.850 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Novanta declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on NOVT shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Novanta from $139.00 to $133.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Novanta in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research raised Novanta from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Novanta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $133.00.

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.

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