Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Investment analysts at Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an "outperform" rating and a $210.00 price target on the semiconductor company's stock. Evercore ISI's price target suggests a potential upside of 19.32% from the company's current price.

Separately, Benchmark raised their target price on Nova from $150.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.67.

Nova Trading Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ NVMI traded up $5.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $175.99. 240,121 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 155,572. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $171.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.14. Nova has a 1-year low of $87.85 and a 1-year high of $190.51. The firm has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.12, a PEG ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.41.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The semiconductor company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.14. Nova had a return on equity of 20.55% and a net margin of 26.32%. The business had revenue of $134.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $128.00 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nova will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McLean Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Nova in the first quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Nova in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,190,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Nova by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 972,956 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $133,674,000 after acquiring an additional 13,891 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Nova by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 142,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $19,519,000 after acquiring an additional 47,295 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Nova by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 92,339 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $12,872,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company's stock.

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.