Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 672 Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT – Get Rating) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 140,835 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 672 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Novanta were worth $19,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ellevest Inc. raised its stake in Novanta by 50.3% in the fourth quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 254 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Novanta in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Novanta by 85.7% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 544 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in shares of Novanta by 350.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 793 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novanta by 23.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 976 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.55% of the company’s stock.

Novanta Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $166.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.16 and a beta of 1.30. Novanta Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.84 and a 1 year high of $173.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.09.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The technology company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.10. Novanta had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 8.39%. The business had revenue of $219.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novanta Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on NOVT shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Novanta from $150.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Novanta Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.