Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on NOVT. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Novanta from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $144.00 in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Novanta from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.00.

Novanta Stock Performance

NASDAQ NOVT opened at $128.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.25 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 3.69, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.52. Novanta has a 1 year low of $98.27 and a 1 year high of $149.95.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The technology company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $258.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.72 million. Novanta had a net margin of 5.49% and a return on equity of 13.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. Novanta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.500-3.650 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.750-0.800 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Novanta will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Novanta

In other news, CFO Robert Buckley sold 9,957 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.77, for a total transaction of $1,162,678.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 96,616 shares in the company, valued at $11,281,850.32. This represents a 9.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthijs Glastra sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.04, for a total transaction of $1,087,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 57,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,320,509.68. This trade represents a 11.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 27,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,700,370 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novanta

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Novanta by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 541 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Novanta by 1.6% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,632 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,065,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Novanta by 120.1% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 427 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Novanta by 17.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,627 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Novanta by 1.4% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 18,287 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novanta Company Profile

Novanta, Inc (NASDAQ: NOVT) is a global technology company that designs and manufactures precision components, subsystems and software used in advanced photonics and motion control applications. The company serves customers in the medical device and advanced industrial markets, supplying critical technologies for diagnostics and therapeutic systems, semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, and scientific instrumentation. Novanta’s product portfolio includes laser control modules, optics, beam delivery systems, high-precision motors, actuators, stages, and fluidics solutions designed to meet stringent accuracy and reliability requirements.

Novanta’s Photonics segment delivers laser and energy delivery components that enable minimally invasive surgical procedures and diagnostic imaging.