Cerity Partners LLC Sells 37,912 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Cerity Partners LLC lessened its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 294,770 shares of the company’s stock after selling 37,912 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $40,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 607,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,790,000 after buying an additional 56,213 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,479,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,562,000 after purchasing an additional 419,988 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 300,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,372,000 after purchasing an additional 14,273 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 327.3% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $363,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $148.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $149.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.84. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $112.34 and a 1 year high of $170.46. The stock has a market cap of $282.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Argus raised shares of 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis 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.