Wall Street Zen Upgrades Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) to Buy

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 research report sent to investors on Sunday.

Novanta Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Novanta stock traded up $0.47 on Friday, hitting $116.17. The company had a trading volume of 238,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 278,907. Novanta has a twelve month low of $98.76 and a twelve month high of $186.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $125.99 and a 200-day moving average of $129.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.32 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Institutional Trading of Novanta

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

Novanta Company Profile

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.