Castleark Management LLC Takes $13.50 Million Position in Novanta Inc. $NOVT

Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 83,190 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,497,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Novanta by 78.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Novanta by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 419,037 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,582,000 after purchasing an additional 6,533 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Novanta by 1,762.5% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 61,631 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,881,000 after purchasing an additional 58,322 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Novanta during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $528,000. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Novanta by 2.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 18,042 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novanta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Novanta in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $194.00 price objective on Novanta in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Novanta from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $194.00.

Insider Transactions at Novanta

In related news, CEO Matthijs Glastra sold 6,500 shares of Novanta 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,795,389.93. This trade represents a 17.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Novanta Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Novanta stock opened at $139.65 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.79, a current ratio of 4.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Novanta Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.27 and a 12-month high of $176.38. The company has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.52 and a beta of 1.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $152.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.24.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.06. Novanta had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 10.83%. The company had revenue of $265.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $262.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Novanta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.680-3.740 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.950-1.000 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Novanta

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.