Acadian Asset Management LLC Sells 26,461 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Acadian Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 776,564 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 26,461 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned about 2.67% of Nova worth $182,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Nova by 7.2% during the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,195,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $280,494,000 after purchasing an additional 80,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Nova by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $175,087,000 after acquiring an additional 14,115 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 74.9% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 604,977 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $83,202,000 after acquiring an additional 259,021 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its position in shares of Nova by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 556,839 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $130,258,000 after acquiring an additional 122,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Nova by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 450,868 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,975,000 after acquiring an additional 82,322 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Stock Performance

Nova stock opened at $197.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $217.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $200.48. Nova Ltd. has a one year low of $90.59 and a one year high of $247.21.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Nova from $223.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Nova in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nova has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.60.

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.