AQR Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 4.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,542 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novanta were worth $415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. AXA S.A. increased its position in shares of Novanta by 0.8% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 434,796 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $70,920,000 after buying an additional 3,635 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Novanta by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,598 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Novanta by 2.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 249,661 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,722,000 after purchasing an additional 5,439 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Novanta by 68.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,287 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP increased its position in shares of Novanta by 59.3% during the second quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 3,518 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Novanta

In other Novanta news, CFO Robert Buckley sold 4,108 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.75, for a total value of $709,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 120,419 shares in the company, valued at $20,802,382.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 13,258 shares of company stock worth $2,318,593 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Novanta from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th.

Novanta Price Performance

Shares of NOVT opened at $176.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.77. Novanta Inc. has a one year low of $111.20 and a one year high of $187.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $175.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.58.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $235.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $233.63 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 6.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novanta Profile

Novanta Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides precision medicine and manufacturing, medical solutions, and robotics and automation solutions in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Precision Medicine and Manufacturing, Medical Solutions, and Robotics and Automation.