Brokerages Set Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Target Price at $238.33

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $238.33.

Several brokerages have commented on NVMI. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Nova in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Nova from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

Institutional Trading of Nova

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 352.8% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,819 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Nova by 253.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 35,327 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,360,000 after purchasing an additional 25,345 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nova by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 661,282 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $146,515,000 after buying an additional 353,906 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Nova by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,142 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,155,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in Nova by 33.6% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $612,000 after buying an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Stock Performance

NVMI opened at $244.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 45.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $198.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.86. Nova has a 1 year low of $135.27 and a 1 year high of $249.01.

About Nova

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.