18,249 Shares in Nova Ltd. $NVMI Bought by Nicholas Investment Partners LP

Nicholas Investment Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 18,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,908,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Nova by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Nova by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,124 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Nova by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Nova by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 347 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Nova by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Yaniv Garty sold 366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $581.20, for a total value of $212,719.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,165,887.20. This represents a 15.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, Director Sarit Sagiv sold 454 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.52, for a total value of $243,580.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,046,750.52. This represents a 18.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,442 shares of company stock valued at $2,905,622. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on NVMI shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Nova from $465.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Nova from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Nova from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Nova from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $514.44.

Nova Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NVMI opened at $362.75 on Tuesday. Nova Ltd. has a 52-week low of $232.73 and a 52-week high of $615.99. The stock has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a PE ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $451.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $470.41.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $254.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.33 million. Nova had a net margin of 28.84% and a return on equity of 21.41%. Nova’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

About Nova

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd (NASDAQ: NVMI) develops and supplies advanced metrology and process control systems for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company’s core product line includes spectroscopic ellipsometry and scatterometry tools designed to measure film thickness, critical dimensions, overlay alignment and other key parameters that drive yield and performance in integrated circuit fabrication.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, Nova Measuring Instruments has established itself as a critical partner to leading semiconductor foundries and device manufacturers.