Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Rating Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on NVMI. Evercore set a $475.00 target price on Nova in a report on Friday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Nova from $640.00 to $570.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $499.44.

Nova Price Performance

NVMI opened at $311.35 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $359.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $442.81. Nova has a 1 year low of $266.43 and a 1 year high of $615.99. The company has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.79.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Nova had a net margin of 28.84% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm had revenue of $254.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.33 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nova will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 2nd that authorizes the company to buy back $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tower View Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nova by 5.0% during the third quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,578,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Walser Wealth Management Company A Ltd Liability Co bought a new position in Nova in the 3rd quarter valued at about $367,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Nova by 214.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 154 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Nova during the 2nd quarter valued at about $276,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nova by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,383 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Nova

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) develops and supplies metrology and process-control solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Its systems help chipmakers measure and control critical dimensions, film thickness, material properties and other characteristics during the production of integrated circuits.

The company’s product portfolio includes optical and X-ray metrology systems, chemical metrology solutions, and related software and analytics tools. These technologies are used in multiple stages of semiconductor fabrication, including front-end wafer processing and advanced packaging, to support process development, yield improvement and manufacturing control.

Founded in 1993, Nova is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, and serves semiconductor manufacturers and other industry customers through operations and support activities across North America, Europe and Asia.