UBS Group AG Acquires 33,276 Shares of Nova Ltd. $NVMI

Key Points

• UBS Group AG increased its stake in Nova Ltd. by 43.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 33,276 additional shares. The fund now owns 110,249 shares valued at about $36.2 million.
• Nova continues to attract broad institutional interest, with institutions owning 82.99% of the stock. Other large holders such as Invesco, Barclays, and Lazard also significantly increased their positions.
• Analysts remain generally positive on NVMI despite a few downgrades, with eight Buy ratings and a consensus Moderate Buy target of $442.25. Nova recently beat earnings and revenue estimates, and its shares were trading at $521.16 with a 1-year high of $550.00.

UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) by 43.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,249 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 33,276 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned about 0.37% of Nova worth $36,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Nova by 185.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 607,344 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $194,144,000 after purchasing an additional 394,544 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Nova during the 3rd quarter valued at $79,915,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nova in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $79,398,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 2,672.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 175,843 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $56,210,000 after purchasing an additional 169,500 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 69.2% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 359,221 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $98,857,000 after purchasing an additional 146,932 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NVMI shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Nova in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Nova from $370.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Nova from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Nova from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Nova from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $442.25.

Nova Price Performance

NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $521.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 6.28 and a quick ratio of 5.47. The firm has a market cap of $16.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $472.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $405.64. Nova Ltd. has a 1-year low of $178.50 and a 1-year high of $550.00.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $222.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.43 million. Nova had a net margin of 29.44% and a return on equity of 22.90%. The firm's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 9.37 EPS for the current year.

Nova Profile

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd NASDAQ: NVMI develops and supplies advanced metrology and process control systems for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company's core product line includes spectroscopic ellipsometry and scatterometry tools designed to measure film thickness, critical dimensions, overlay alignment and other key parameters that drive yield and performance in integrated circuit fabrication.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, Nova Measuring Instruments has established itself as a critical partner to leading semiconductor foundries and device manufacturers.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.