Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $104.56, but opened at $102.20. Novartis shares last traded at $101.59, with a volume of 236,847 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated 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. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $110.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.31. The company has a market cap of $208.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.56.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 191.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 15.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after purchasing an additional 231,851 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,669,000 after purchasing an additional 70,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its position in Novartis by 31.7% during the second quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,112,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,436,000 after acquiring an additional 267,490 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.