ARK Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Key Points

• ARK Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Nova Ltd. by 16.7%, now owning 8,015 shares valued at approximately $1.48 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Nova, with Wasatch Advisors LP raising its ownership by 49.3% to nearly 2.4 million shares worth $474.98 million.
• Nova's recent earnings report showed a significant year-over-year revenue increase of 50.5%, with earnings per share of $2.18, surpassing analysts’ expectations.

ARK Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) by 16.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,015 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 1,611 shares during the quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC's holdings in Nova were worth $1,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVMI. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Nova by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $474,980,000 after acquiring an additional 796,629 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Nova by 3.7% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,212,485 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $223,497,000 after purchasing an additional 42,860 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Nova by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,047,782 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $205,985,000 after acquiring an additional 14,667 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Nova by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 674,453 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $132,834,000 after purchasing an additional 13,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 600,868 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $118,341,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nova Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NVMI stock traded up $2.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $273.30. The stock had a trading volume of 55,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 275,119. The business's fifty day moving average is $245.89 and its 200-day moving average is $225.49. The firm has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.30, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.66. Nova Ltd. has a 1-year low of $153.99 and a 1-year high of $291.99.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $213.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.10 million. Nova had a return on equity of 23.98% and a net margin of 28.46%. Nova's revenue for the quarter was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on NVMI. Wall Street Zen downgraded Nova from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $300.00 price objective (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Nova in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Nova from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $282.50.

About Nova

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.