Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Up 3.9% – Should You Buy?

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)’s share price traded up 3.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $208.40 and last traded at $208.40. 34,856 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 180,791 shares. The stock had previously closed at $200.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.80.

Nova Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $207.98 and its 200 day moving average is $205.06. The stock has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.21, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.43. Nova had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 27.38%. The firm had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Nova’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Nova in the second quarter valued at about $68,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Nova during the 2nd quarter worth $79,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Nova by 15.9% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $180,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN bought a new position in shares of Nova in the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

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.