Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Sees Large Volume Increase

Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 822,040 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 398% from the previous session’s volume of 165,015 shares.The stock last traded at $168.71 and had previously closed at $168.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on NVMI shares. Benchmark raised their price target on Nova from $150.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Nova in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock.

Nova Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.53. The stock has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.93, a P/E/G ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 1.41.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The semiconductor company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.14. Nova had a return on equity of 20.55% and a net margin of 26.32%. The company had revenue of $134.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NVMI. KLR Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nova during the first quarter valued at $277,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new position in Nova in the first quarter valued at about $252,000. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nova in the first quarter worth about $289,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Nova in the first quarter worth about $5,737,000. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Nova in the first quarter worth about $262,000. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.