Blair William & Co. IL Trims Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,162 shares of the company’s stock after selling 823 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Novartis were worth $8,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its stake in Novartis by 2.2% in the second quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 5,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,324,000 after buying an additional 11,355 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co raised its position in shares of Novartis by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 35,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,787,000 after buying an additional 1,574 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 153,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,294,000 after acquiring an additional 5,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance grew its position in Novartis by 5.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $115.92 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.46. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap of $236.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NVS. Bank of America lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 target price (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

Novartis Profile

Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.