Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Nova Ltd. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from five brokerage firms, with one hold and four buy recommendations.
• The average 12-month price target for Nova is $282.50, with recent adjustments from firms including Citigroup and Cantor Fitzgerald.
• NOVA's recent earnings report indicated a 50.5% year-over-year revenue increase, reporting earnings per share of $2.18, exceeding analysts' estimates.

Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $282.50.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NVMI shares. Benchmark lowered their target price on Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Nova from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Nova from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Nova in a report on Tuesday, June 24th.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NVMI traded up $4.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $262.57. 576,287 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 277,516. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $255.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $227.01. Nova has a 1 year low of $153.99 and a 1 year high of $291.99. The company has a market cap of $7.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.66, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.67.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $219.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $214.95 million. Nova had a return on equity of 23.98% and a net margin of 28.46%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 40.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nova will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Nova

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Nova by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $474,980,000 after purchasing an additional 796,629 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in Nova by 7.8% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,490,554 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $274,254,000 after buying an additional 107,215 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 13.1% in the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,437,657 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $395,643,000 after acquiring an additional 166,672 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in shares of Nova by 10.7% in the second quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,342,169 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $369,365,000 after buying an additional 129,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Nova by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,062,142 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $197,195,000 after purchasing an additional 14,360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company's stock.

Nova Company 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.