Novartis AG $NVS Stock Position Lowered by Capital Insight Partners LLC

Capital Insight Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,439 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,393 shares during the quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after buying an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Novartis by 2.2% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,058,000 after buying an additional 47,690 shares during the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% in the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,262,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,770,000 after acquiring an additional 3,805 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:NVS opened at $123.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $130.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $122.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.62. The stock has a market cap of $261.41 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.63.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly 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. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 target price (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.33.

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.