NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) Stock Price Up 8.2% – Here’s What Happened

NovoCure Limited (NASDAQ:NVCR) shares were up 8.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $17.17 and last traded at $17.4710. Approximately 99,429 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 1,759,140 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NVCR shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NovoCure from $13.50 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of NovoCure from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NovoCure from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of NovoCure in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of NovoCure in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.29.

NovoCure Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of -11.63 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day moving average of $14.16 and a 200 day moving average of $13.14.

NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $174.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.77 million. NovoCure had a negative net margin of 25.66% and a negative return on equity of 50.82%. NovoCure’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.31) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NovoCure Limited will post -1.55 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy J. Scannell sold 2,945 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total value of $46,442.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 14,288 shares in the company, valued at $225,321.76. This represents a 17.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Allyson J. Ocean sold 2,945 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total transaction of $46,442.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $178,579.48. This trade represents a 20.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 17,670 shares of company stock valued at $278,656. Corporate insiders own 5.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NovoCure

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NovoCure by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,958,209 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $141,690,000 after purchasing an additional 502,368 shares during the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. increased its position in NovoCure by 25.0% during the second quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,904,302 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $122,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382,888 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in NovoCure by 453.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,069,895 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $65,554,000 after purchasing an additional 4,153,741 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in NovoCure by 23.7% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 2,487,376 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $27,112,000 after purchasing an additional 477,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in NovoCure by 38.8% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,270,076 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $40,407,000 after purchasing an additional 634,925 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NovoCure Company Profile

NovoCure is a global oncology company pioneering Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), a novel anti-mitotic therapy for solid tumors. The company’s non-invasive treatment platforms deliver low-intensity, alternating electric fields designed to disrupt cancer cell division. NovoCure’s approach offers an alternative modality to complement existing therapies in oncology, with a focus on hard-to-treat malignancies.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Haifa, Israel, NovoCure maintains a second operational center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.