Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Trading Down 4.6% - Should You Sell?

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) traded down 4.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $271.37 and last traded at $272.87. 328,610 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 35% from the average session volume of 243,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $285.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Nova from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Nova from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $300.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Nova in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective on Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $282.50.

Nova Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.73, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $231.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.49.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $210.10 million. Nova had a return on equity of 23.98% and a net margin of 28.46%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVMI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Nova by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 306 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Nova by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,688 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Nova by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,339 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Nova by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake in Nova by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.