Twin Tree Management LP Sells 16,305 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Twin Tree Management LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 83.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 16,305 shares during the quarter. Twin Tree Management LP’s holdings in Nova were worth $649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVMI. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its stake in shares of Nova by 74.6% during the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,281,869 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $267,487,000 after purchasing an additional 547,833 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 353,906 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in Nova by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,370,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $270,015,000 after acquiring an additional 97,000 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Nova during the third quarter worth about $19,659,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Nova by 121.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 145,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,230,000 after buying an additional 79,700 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.83.

Nova Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $198.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.80 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s fifty day moving average is $239.74 and its 200 day moving average is $210.93. Nova Ltd. has a 52 week low of $158.00 and a 52 week high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.50 million. Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current year.

Nova 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.