Trexquant Investment LP Acquires 16,336 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 99.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,826 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,336 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Nova were worth $6,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NVMI. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 438.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 140 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Nova by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Nova during the fourth quarter valued at about $112,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nova by 79.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Nova in the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on NVMI shares. Citigroup upgraded Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nova currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.83.

Nova Stock Down 5.9 %

Shares of NVMI stock opened at $162.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.63. Nova Ltd. has a 12-month low of $154.00 and a 12-month high of $289.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $227.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $209.72.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The business had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.50 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current year.

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.