Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Novanta has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, signaling increased confidence in the company's stock performance.
• In its latest earnings report, Novanta reported $0.74 EPS, which exceeded analyst expectations, and a revenue of $233.37 million, reflecting a year-over-year increase.
• Institutional investors hold 98.35% of Novanta's stock, with some firms significantly increasing their stakes in the company during the first quarter.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Sunday.

Novanta Stock Down 6.8%

Shares of Novanta stock traded down $8.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $115.59. The stock had a trading volume of 913,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,556. Novanta has a 52 week low of $98.76 and a 52 week high of $186.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $126.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $130.08. The company has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.97 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $241.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.97 million. Novanta had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 15.06%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Novanta will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Novanta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOVT. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 21,537 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,246,000 after acquiring an additional 3,528 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Novanta by 53.6% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 430 shares of the technology company's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Novanta by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 68,803 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,511,000 after purchasing an additional 5,820 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its position in Novanta by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 2,370 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Novanta by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,667 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $9,726,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company's stock.

About Novanta

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.