Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $4.43 Million Position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,472 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Nova were worth $4,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVMI. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in Nova by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $474,980,000 after purchasing an additional 796,629 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in Nova by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,383,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,517,000 after purchasing an additional 101,470 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in Nova by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,370,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $270,015,000 after purchasing an additional 97,000 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in Nova by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 296,307 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,423,000 after purchasing an additional 67,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its holdings in Nova by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 713,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $140,455,000 after purchasing an additional 65,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Benchmark lowered their target price on Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.60.

Nova Price Performance

NASDAQ NVMI opened at $195.64 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.21. Nova Ltd. has a one year low of $154.00 and a one year high of $289.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.10. Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The business had revenue of $213.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $210.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 50.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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.