Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Nova Ltd. $NVMI

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 47.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,166,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 697,210 shares during the quarter. Nova accounts for about 6.4% of Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. owned about 6.82% of Nova worth $940,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Nova by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nova by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,124 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 992 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 347 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nova by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on NVMI. Barclays raised their price objective on Nova from $465.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research downgraded Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Nova in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings cut Nova from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, May 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $556.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nova

In other news, Director Yaniv Garty sold 426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.49, for a total transaction of $219,172.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,048,530.62. The trade was a 17.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Sarit Sagiv sold 454 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.52, for a total value of $243,580.08. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,046,750.52. This represents a 18.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,798 shares of company stock worth $4,125,266. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of NVMI stock opened at $473.54 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $512.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $470.63. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $232.73 and a fifty-two week high of $615.99. The firm has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.74.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The semiconductor company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.13. Nova had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 29.21%.The company had revenue of $235.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.02 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Nova has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.340-2.480 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 9.46 EPS for the current 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.