Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Position Lifted by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Free Report) by 118.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,244 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 10,444 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.07% of Nova worth $3,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NVMI. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Nova during the 4th quarter valued at $112,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Nova by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its position in shares of Nova by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nova by 79.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,182 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nova currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.60.

Nova Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Nova stock traded up $4.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $200.93. The stock had a trading volume of 21,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,072. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $154.00 and a 1 year high of $289.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.73. The company has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 35.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.63.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $186.50 million. Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. As a group, equities analysts expect 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.