Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 2,892 call options on the company. This is an increase of 488% compared to the typical volume of 492 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on NVMI shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Nova from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Nova from $600.00 to $460.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore set a $475.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.00.

Nova Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NVMI traded up $18.90 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $332.08. The company had a trading volume of 39,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,039. The company has a current ratio of 6.21, a quick ratio of 5.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a PE ratio of 37.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $346.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $437.27. Nova has a 1-year low of $266.43 and a 1-year high of $615.99.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.09. Nova had a return on equity of 22.13% and a net margin of 29.87%. The company had revenue of $287.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $282.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. Nova’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Nova has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.030-3.180 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nova will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Nova declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, September 2nd that authorizes the company to buy back $200 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nova

In other news, CEO Gabriel Waisman sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.27, for a total value of $513,405.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 27,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,314,535.78. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.28, for a total value of $1,403,713.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 21,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,777,461.52. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nova

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NVMI. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 47.5% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,166,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $940,683,000 after buying an additional 697,210 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in shares of Nova by 5.3% in the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,706,657 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $657,404,000 after acquiring an additional 86,000 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. increased its position in shares of Nova by 133.2% in the third quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 1,440,315 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $554,671,000 after acquiring an additional 822,684 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nova in the second quarter worth approximately $391,367,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Nova during the second quarter valued at approximately $308,300,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

About Nova