Nova Ltd. $NVMI Shares Sold by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 62,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 12,975 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Nova were worth $33,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Nova by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Nova by 2.7% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,124 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Nova by 20.0% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in Nova by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 10,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,642,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on NVMI shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Nova from $595.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Evercore set a $475.00 price target on Nova in a report on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Nova from $640.00 to $570.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $514.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nova

In other news, Director Eitan Oppenhaim sold 1,290 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $581.20, for a total value of $749,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,421 shares in the company, valued at $3,731,885.20. This represents a 16.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gabriel Waisman sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.27, for a total transaction of $513,405.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,314,535.78. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 6,942 shares of company stock worth $3,419,027 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Nova Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $372.10 on Friday. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $248.87 and a 1 year high of $615.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a PE ratio of 46.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $417.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.50.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.10. Nova had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 28.84%.The firm had revenue of $254.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Nova declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, September 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Nova Profile

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd (NASDAQ: NVMI) develops and supplies advanced metrology and process control systems for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company’s core product line includes spectroscopic ellipsometry and scatterometry tools designed to measure film thickness, critical dimensions, overlay alignment and other key parameters that drive yield and performance in integrated circuit fabrication.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, Nova Measuring Instruments has established itself as a critical partner to leading semiconductor foundries and device manufacturers.