Insider Selling: Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Insider Sells $1,403,713.92 in Stock

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.28, for a total value of $1,403,713.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,777,461.52. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Nova Price Performance

Nova stock opened at $366.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 45.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.76. Nova Ltd. has a one year low of $266.43 and a one year high of $615.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $384.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $456.63.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Nova

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Nova in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Nova by 688.9% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 71 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nova in the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. Strategic Investment Advisors MI bought a new position in shares of Nova in the first quarter worth about $109,000. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of Nova during the fourth quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NVMI shares. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $640.00 to $570.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup reduced 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 decreased their price objective on shares of Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Evercore set a $475.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $514.44.

About Nova

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) is an Israel-based provider of metrology and process-control solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company develops systems that help chip manufacturers measure and control critical process parameters during wafer fabrication, supporting the production of increasingly small and complex semiconductor devices.

Nova’s product portfolio includes optical and x-ray metrology systems, dimensional and materials measurement solutions, chemical metrology tools, and integrated metrology systems that can be incorporated into semiconductor production equipment.