Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires New Stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Retirement Systems of Alabama acquired a new stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,619 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $1,957,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Nova by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $474,980,000 after buying an additional 796,629 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of Nova by 504.5% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 354,302 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,780,000 after acquiring an additional 295,691 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Nova by 33.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,383,339 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $272,517,000 after purchasing an additional 101,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nova in the fourth quarter worth $11,358,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NVMI. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of 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 issued a $300.00 target price (up from $250.00) on shares of Nova in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Nova from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Nova from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nova currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $282.50.

Nova Stock Performance

NASDAQ NVMI traded up $7.56 on Monday, hitting $275.20. 300,308 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 238,345. Nova Ltd. has a 52-week low of $154.00 and a 52-week high of $289.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $210.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $214.83.

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

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.