Nova Ltd. $NVMI Shares Bought by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 43.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 110,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,276 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Nova were worth $36,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Nova during the 3rd quarter worth about $10,153,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Nova in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,375,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nova by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,428,607 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $456,669,000 after buying an additional 86,438 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Nova by 119.8% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,360 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 2,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Nova by 2,128.7% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 128,641 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $41,121,000 after buying an additional 122,869 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Nova from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Nova from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $442.25.

Nova Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ NVMI opened at $521.16 on Friday. Nova Ltd. has a 12-month low of $178.50 and a 12-month high of $550.00. The stock has a market cap of $16.56 billion, a PE ratio of 65.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a current ratio of 6.28, a quick ratio of 5.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $472.21 and a 200 day moving average of $405.64.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.01. Nova had a net margin of 29.44% and a return on equity of 22.90%. The company had revenue of $222.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $220.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.94 EPS. Nova’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nova Company Profile

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd (NASDAQ: NVMI) develops and supplies advanced metrology and process control systems for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company’s core product line includes spectroscopic ellipsometry and scatterometry tools designed to measure film thickness, critical dimensions, overlay alignment and other key parameters that drive yield and performance in integrated circuit fabrication.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, Nova Measuring Instruments has established itself as a critical partner to leading semiconductor foundries and device manufacturers.