Novanta Inc. $NOVT Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

Posted by Brenda Bartman on May 24th, 2026

William Blair Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT – Free Report) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 908,906 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 51,667 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Novanta were worth $108,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Creek Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Summit Creek Advisors LLC now owns 73,673 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,766,000 after purchasing an additional 23,712 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,399,462 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $155,536,000 after purchasing an additional 604,055 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 81,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after purchasing an additional 10,896 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 222,391 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,272,000 after purchasing an additional 44,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 753,111 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,424,000 after purchasing an additional 30,674 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Novanta

In other news, CFO Robert Buckley sold 9,957 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.77, for a total transaction of $1,162,678.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 96,616 shares in the company, valued at $11,281,850.32. The trade was a 9.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthijs Glastra sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.43, for a total value of $1,128,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 42,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,432,537.23. This represents a 14.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,957 shares of company stock worth $3,136,229. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NOVT. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Novanta in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Novanta from $144.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.00.

View Our Latest Analysis on Novanta

Novanta Price Performance

NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $159.70 on Friday. Novanta Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.27 and a 12 month high of $165.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $129.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.56, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.73 and a beta of 1.62.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Novanta had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 5.35%.The company had revenue of $257.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $253.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. Novanta’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Novanta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.500-3.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.810-0.860 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Novanta

(Free Report)

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.