Gabriel Waisman Sells 2,966 Shares of Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) CEO Gabriel Waisman sold 2,966 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.30, for a total transaction of $1,486,855.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 28,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,394,328.20. This trade represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Nova Trading Down 4.3%

NVMI opened at $446.43 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $516.75 and its 200-day moving average is $465.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a PE ratio of 55.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.74. Nova Ltd. has a twelve month low of $232.73 and a twelve month high of $615.99.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The semiconductor company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.13. Nova had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 29.21%.The firm had revenue of $235.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.02 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Nova has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.340-2.480 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Nova by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,200,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $605,701,000 after purchasing an additional 102,250 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in Nova by 47.5% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,166,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $940,683,000 after buying an additional 697,210 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in shares of Nova by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,493,657 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $490,502,000 after acquiring an additional 98,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nova by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,128,957 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $377,402,000 after acquiring an additional 15,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 634,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $208,293,000 after acquiring an additional 26,940 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on NVMI. Zacks Research lowered shares of Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Nova from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nova from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Nova from $520.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $551.25.

About Nova

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd (NASDAQ: NVMI) develops and supplies advanced metrology and process control systems for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company’s core product line includes spectroscopic ellipsometry and scatterometry tools designed to measure film thickness, critical dimensions, overlay alignment and other key parameters that drive yield and performance in integrated circuit fabrication.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, Nova Measuring Instruments has established itself as a critical partner to leading semiconductor foundries and device manufacturers.