Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Bank of America from $250.00 to $270.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 5.74% from the stock’s previous close.

NVMI has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nova has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.50.

Nova Stock Up 2.7%

NASDAQ NVMI opened at $255.35 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $203.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.61. Nova has a 52 week low of $154.00 and a 52 week high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.10 million. Nova had a net margin of 28.46% and a return on equity of 23.98%. Nova’s quarterly revenue was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nova will post 7.52 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Nova

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Nova during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 51.6% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 376 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 187.1% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 402 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nova in the first quarter valued at about $92,000. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.