State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,041 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,224 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Nova were worth $3,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in shares of Nova by 74.6% in the third 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 last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its stake in Nova by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,169,625 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $230,358,000 after purchasing an additional 11,915 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Nova by 115.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 661,282 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $146,515,000 after purchasing an additional 353,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its position in Nova by 16.3% during the third quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 647,722 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $135,513,000 after purchasing an additional 90,883 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVMI has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Nova in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark raised their price target on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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 report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.67.

Nova Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $273.08 on Thursday. Nova Ltd. has a 12-month low of $154.54 and a 12-month high of $289.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $227.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $209.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.44.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The company had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.50 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

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.