Lazard Asset Management LLC Buys 4,107 Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT - Free Report) by 220.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,969 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,107 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Novanta were worth $911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Novanta by 215.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 65,564 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $11,731,000 after buying an additional 44,756 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Novanta by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 120,566 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,419,000 after buying an additional 4,648 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Novanta by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,500 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novanta during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Novanta during the fourth quarter valued at about $284,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Stock Down 1.5%

NOVT traded down $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $120.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 344,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 212,158. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.93 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Novanta Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.76 and a 1 year high of $187.12. The stock's 50-day moving average is $121.88 and its 200-day moving average is $143.23.

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

Novanta Company Profile

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.