Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lowered its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 50,040 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,458 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Up 0.3%

NVS opened at $152.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $290.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $111.06 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $150.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

About Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.