Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Novartis (NYSE:NVS)

Equities researchers at Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a research note issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set an “underweight” rating on the stock.

NVS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE NVS opened at $107.73 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $220.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 503.8% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.