Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by Harbour Investments Inc.

Harbour Investments Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,291 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,174 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NVS. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 1st quarter worth about $251,000. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 18,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,111,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 338,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,882,000 after purchasing an additional 11,726 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 212.4% in the 1st quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 26,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,956,000 after purchasing an additional 18,028 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BNP Paribas raised Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Novartis Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $115.25 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $243.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.83. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $124.83.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

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.