Wedbush Reaffirms Neutral Rating for NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR)

NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, RTT News reports. They presently have a $21.00 price target on the medical equipment provider’s stock. Wedbush’s target price suggests a potential upside of 43.44% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on NVCR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NovoCure from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on NovoCure from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on NovoCure from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.13.

NovoCure Trading Up 12.0 %

NASDAQ NVCR traded up $1.57 on Wednesday, hitting $14.64. 11,930,724 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,384,558. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.51 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 5.56 and a current ratio of 5.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $14.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.46. NovoCure has a 52-week low of $10.87 and a 52-week high of $83.60.

NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $133.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $133.80 million. NovoCure had a negative net margin of 40.65% and a negative return on equity of 51.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.36) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that NovoCure will post -1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at NovoCure

In other NovoCure news, EVP Frank X. Leonard sold 2,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.14, for a total value of $33,538.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 162,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,624,638.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other NovoCure news, EVP Frank X. Leonard sold 2,078 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.14, for a total value of $33,538.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 162,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,624,638.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Wilhelmus Cm Groenhuysen sold 2,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.03, for a total value of $33,775.21. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 252,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,046,805.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,921 shares of company stock worth $127,161 over the last quarter. Insiders own 5.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of NovoCure by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,222 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NovoCure by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,061 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,179,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in shares of NovoCure by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 23,400 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $1,716,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in NovoCure by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 44,523 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,266,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in NovoCure by 47.0% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,292 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NovoCure Company Profile

NovoCure Limited, an oncology company, engages in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of tumor treating fields (TTFields) devices for the treatment of solid tumor cancers in the United States, Germany, Japan, Greater China, and internationally. The company's TTFields devices include Optune Gio and Optune Lua.