Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 6.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,188 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 453 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Nova were worth $1,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NVMI. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in Nova by 2,733.2% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 288,986 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $67,510,000 after buying an additional 278,786 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in Nova during the first quarter valued at about $38,661,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 645,203 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $151,319,000 after purchasing an additional 200,816 shares in the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 556,839 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $130,258,000 after buying an additional 122,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grandeur Peak Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nova in the 1st quarter worth approximately $15,195,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $181.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.47. Nova Ltd. has a 12 month low of $98.55 and a 12 month high of $247.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $199.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.72.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.80.

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.