Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Price

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) had its target price reduced by Needham & Company LLC from $570.00 to $420.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 50.91% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Evercore set a $475.00 price target on Nova in a report on Friday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $550.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $482.78.

Nova Price Performance

NVMI traded down $17.03 on Thursday, hitting $278.32. 272,552 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 438,533. Nova has a 12 month low of $266.43 and a 12 month high of $615.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $349.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $438.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.85.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $287.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $282.23 million. Nova had a net margin of 28.84% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Nova will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, September 2nd that authorizes the company to buy back $200 million in outstanding 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 management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 directly owned 27,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,314,535.78. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.28, for a total value of $1,403,713.92. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 21,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,777,461.52. This trade represents a 15.29% 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. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nova during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $15,675,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Nova by 51.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,332 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,844 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Nova in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,647,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Nova by 51.6% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 4,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Nova by 338.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 190,399 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $82,434,000 after purchasing an additional 146,959 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

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.