Truist Financial Corp Has $83.84 Million Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Truist Financial Corp reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 830,365 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,494 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $83,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,539,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,650,000 after buying an additional 51,391 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,803,000 after buying an additional 686,847 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 167.6% in the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,125,000 after buying an additional 1,144,307 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,221,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,431,000 after buying an additional 36,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 815,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,372,000 after buying an additional 82,909 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS traded down $1.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $97.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,562,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,827,393. The company’s fifty day moving average is $97.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $108.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a return on equity of 32.15% and a net margin of 31.33%. The firm had revenue of $11.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $3.7772 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a yield of 3.1%. This is a positive change from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company.

About Novartis

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.