Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

NOVT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Novanta from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Novanta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $144.00 in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.00.

Novanta Stock Performance

Shares of NOVT stock opened at $117.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.16 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 2.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.25 and a 200 day moving average of $121.37. Novanta has a 1 year low of $98.27 and a 1 year high of $149.95.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The technology company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $258.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.72 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 13.12% and a net margin of 5.49%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Novanta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.500-3.650 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.800 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Novanta will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Novanta

In related news, CEO Matthijs Glastra sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.04, for a total transaction of $1,087,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 57,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,320,509.68. This trade represents a 11.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Buckley sold 9,957 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.77, for a total value of $1,162,678.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 96,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,281,850.32. This trade represents a 9.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 34,303 shares of company stock valued at $4,545,416 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novanta by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,378,888 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $438,546,000 after purchasing an additional 193,366 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novanta by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,458,259 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $173,518,000 after purchasing an additional 47,540 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Novanta by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,399,462 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $155,536,000 after buying an additional 604,055 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Novanta by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,319,474 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $157,004,000 after buying an additional 13,603 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in Novanta by 10.6% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,100,029 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $141,827,000 after buying an additional 104,985 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novanta Company 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.