Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $499.44 According to Analysts

Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $499.44.

NVMI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Evercore set a $475.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $550.00 to $415.00 in a report on Thursday, October 8th.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of NVMI stock traded down $0.71 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $339.69. The company had a trading volume of 139,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 449,584. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $373.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $450.44. Nova has a one year low of $266.43 and a one year high of $615.99.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $254.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.33 million. Nova had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 28.84%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nova will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, September 2nd that permits the company to buy back $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Nova

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NVMI. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of Nova during the second quarter worth $38,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Nova by 688.9% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 71 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI acquired a new stake in Nova in the first quarter valued at $109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Nova by 20.0% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Balefire LLC bought a new position in Nova during the 2nd quarter worth $201,000. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Nova

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) is an Israel-based provider of process control and metrology solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company develops systems that help chipmakers measure and control critical wafer characteristics during production, supporting improvements in process performance, yield and device quality.

Its product portfolio includes optical and X-ray metrology systems used to measure dimensions, film thickness, material composition and other parameters across semiconductor manufacturing processes.