Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Price

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $570.00 to $420.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 50.91% from the stock’s previous close.

NVMI has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Nova in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Evercore set a $475.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $482.78.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of NVMI stock traded down $17.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $278.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 272,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,533. The company has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.79. Nova has a 52 week low of $266.43 and a 52 week high of $615.99.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.09. Nova had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 28.84%. The company had revenue of $287.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $282.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nova will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Nova announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $200 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Nova

In other Nova news, CEO Gabriel Waisman sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.27, for a total value of $513,405.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 27,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,314,535.78. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.28, for a total value of $1,403,713.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 21,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,777,461.52. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Nova by 2.7% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,124 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Nova by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Nova by 688.9% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 71 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Nova by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,383 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Nova during the second quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

About Nova

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) develops and supplies metrology and process-control solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Its systems help chipmakers measure and control critical dimensions, film thickness, material properties and other characteristics during the production of integrated circuits.

The company’s product portfolio includes optical and X-ray metrology systems, chemical metrology solutions, and related software and analytics tools. These technologies are used in multiple stages of semiconductor fabrication, including front-end wafer processing and advanced packaging, to support process development, yield improvement and manufacturing control.

Founded in 1993, Nova is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, and serves semiconductor manufacturers and other industry customers through operations and support activities across North America, Europe and Asia.