Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 742,342 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 122% from the previous session’s volume of 333,919 shares.The stock last traded at $102.3250 and had previously closed at $107.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Novanta from $139.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Novanta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novanta presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $133.00.

Novanta Trading Down 4.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 59.93 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $113.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.54.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $247.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.95 million. Novanta had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 14.70%. Novanta’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.240-3.300 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.870-0.930 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Novanta announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Novanta by 1.2% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Novanta by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Novanta by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Novanta by 29.0% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 671 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Novanta by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,632 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Novanta Company Profile

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.