Natixis Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 838,382 shares of the company’s stock after selling 61,636 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $115,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 39.0% in the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 15,950.0% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. DZ Bank downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $143.27 on Wednesday. Novartis AG has a one year low of $112.34 and a one year high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $273.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $149.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.98.

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

Novartis Company Profile

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.