Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Lowered to “Sell (D+)” Rating by Weiss Ratings

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Weiss Ratings from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on NOVT. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Novanta from $139.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Novanta Price Performance

NASDAQ NOVT opened at $128.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.03. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.68 and a beta of 1.49. Novanta has a 1 year low of $98.76 and a 1 year high of $184.11.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $241.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.97 million. Novanta had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 14.70%. Novanta’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.220-3.360 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.780-0.850 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Novanta will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Novanta declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novanta

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOVT. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Novanta by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of Novanta by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Novanta by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Novanta by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,201 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Novanta by 29.0% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Novanta Company Profile

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.