Man Group plc Purchases 24,002 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Man Group plc increased its position in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 1,521.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,580 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 24,002 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned 0.09% of Nova worth $5,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nicholas Investment Partners LP boosted its position in Nova by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 13,211 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,602,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 105,070 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,736,000 after buying an additional 2,327 shares during the last quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 20,068 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,952,000 after buying an additional 2,819 shares during the last quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP lifted its position in shares of Nova by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP now owns 18,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,557,000 after buying an additional 9,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 52,720 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,383,000 after buying an additional 21,046 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.00.

Nova Price Performance

Nova stock opened at $188.85 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $189.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.24. Nova Ltd. has a one year low of $154.00 and a one year high of $289.90. The firm has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a PE ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.10 million. Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.