JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) by 92.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,663 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 32,664 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s holdings in Nova were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,275 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Nova by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its stake in Nova by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 5,032 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $991,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,576 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,482,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Nova by 3.2% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,030 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Nova Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NVMI traded up $6.53 on Friday, hitting $202.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 134,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,239. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $197.24 and a 200-day moving average of $206.58. Nova Ltd. has a 12-month low of $154.00 and a 12-month high of $289.90. The company has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.63.

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