American Century Companies Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 20.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 224,699 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 56,906 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Nova were worth $52,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVMI. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nova in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $79,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Nova by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Nova by 46.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,038 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new stake in Nova in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new stake in Nova in the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Trading Down 8.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ NVMI opened at $189.27 on Tuesday. Nova Ltd. has a 12 month low of $90.59 and a 12 month high of $247.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.44. The stock has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.61, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.43. Nova had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The business had revenue of $156.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup cut shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.80.

Nova 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.