Swiss National Bank Buys 1,000 Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Novanta were worth $14,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NOVT. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in Novanta during the second quarter worth $34,000. Ellevest Inc. grew its holdings in Novanta by 39.8% during the first quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new stake in Novanta during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Novanta by 85.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 544 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Novanta in the first quarter worth $69,000. Institutional investors own 96.84% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert Buckley sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.20, for a total transaction of $480,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 136,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,876,271.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Novanta Stock Up 1.1 %

NOVT stock opened at $142.98 on Tuesday. Novanta Inc. has a 1-year low of $111.20 and a 1-year high of $187.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.09 and a beta of 1.28.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. Novanta had a return on equity of 18.54% and a net margin of 8.51%. The firm had revenue of $221.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $223.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on NOVT shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Novanta in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. TheStreet cut Novanta from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 20th.

Novanta Company Profile

Novanta Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, markets, and sells photonics, vision, and precision motion in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment offers photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning, beam delivery, CO2 laser, solid state laser, ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products serving photonics-based applications for industrial processing, metrology, medical and life science imaging, DNA sequencing, and medical laser procedures.