Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 52.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,582 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 61,263 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Nova were worth $10,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Nova by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Nova by 187.1% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 402 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Nova during the 4th quarter worth $112,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Nova by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC grew its holdings in Nova by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nova Stock Performance

NASDAQ NVMI opened at $222.19 on Friday. Nova Ltd. has a one year low of $154.00 and a one year high of $289.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 38.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.61.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $213.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.10 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on NVMI. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.00.

Nova Company Profile

Nova Ltd. designs, develops, produces, and sells process control systems used in the manufacture of semiconductors in Israel, Taiwan, the United States, China, Korea, and internationally. Its product portfolio includes a set of metrology platforms for dimensional, films, and materials and chemical metrology measurements for process control for various semiconductor manufacturing process steps, including lithography, etch, chemical mechanical planarization, deposition, electrochemical plating, and advanced packaging.