William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes $124.25 Million Position in Novanta Inc. $NOVT

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 765,867 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,254,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Novanta by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,776,694 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $210,307,000 after purchasing an additional 377,232 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Novanta by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,458,259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $173,518,000 after buying an additional 47,540 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Novanta by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,319,474 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $157,004,000 after buying an additional 13,603 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 10.6% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,100,029 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $141,827,000 after buying an additional 104,985 shares during the period. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 49.4% during the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 936,962 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,489,000 after buying an additional 309,869 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novanta Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $145.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.14. The stock has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.10 and a beta of 1.68. Novanta Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.27 and a 1 year high of $176.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.79 and a current ratio of 4.57.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.06. Novanta had a return on equity of 10.83% and a net margin of 6.00%.The business had revenue of $265.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $262.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Novanta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.680-3.740 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.950-1.000 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Novanta Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOVT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $194.00 target price on shares of Novanta in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Novanta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novanta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Novanta in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $194.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Novanta news, CEO Matthijs Glastra sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.13, for a total value of $1,047,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 29,761 shares in the company, valued at $4,795,389.93. This represents a 17.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Novanta Profile

Novanta, Inc (NASDAQ: NOVT) is a global technology company that designs and manufactures precision components, subsystems and software used in advanced photonics and motion control applications. The company serves customers in the medical device and advanced industrial markets, supplying critical technologies for diagnostics and therapeutic systems, semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, and scientific instrumentation. Novanta’s product portfolio includes laser control modules, optics, beam delivery systems, high-precision motors, actuators, stages, and fluidics solutions designed to meet stringent accuracy and reliability requirements.

Novanta’s Photonics segment delivers laser and energy delivery components that enable minimally invasive surgical procedures and diagnostic imaging.