JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 32,664 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) by 92.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,663 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 32,664 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s holdings in Nova were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. bought a new position in shares of Nova during the 4th quarter valued at $3,765,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Nova by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,974 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $7,282,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,667 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 10,323 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,033,000 after buying an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Nova by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 145,153 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $28,588,000 after acquiring an additional 25,728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $264.60.

Nova Stock Down 1.1 %

Nova stock traded down $2.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $193.88. The company had a trading volume of 224,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,554. The firm has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $195.21 and a 200-day moving average of $206.83. Nova Ltd. has a 52 week low of $154.00 and a 52 week high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The firm had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.50 million. On average, analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova Profile

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.