Wellington Management Group LLP Buys New Shares in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Nova by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $474,980,000 after acquiring an additional 796,629 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in 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 buying an additional 295,691 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in 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 buying an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in Nova by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,383,339 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $272,517,000 after buying an additional 101,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its position in Nova by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 713,003 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $140,455,000 after buying an additional 65,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NVMI. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America cut their target price on Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Nova from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.00.

Nova Trading Up 2.9%

NVMI traded up $6.61 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $232.85. 259,319 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 236,416. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $192.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $209.18. Nova Ltd. has a 12-month low of $154.00 and a 12-month high of $289.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.57, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.61.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $213.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.10 million. Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 50.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current 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.