Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC cut its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 9.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,137 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,806 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Archer Investment Corp grew its holdings in Novartis by 93.0% in the 1st quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 425.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 231 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $150.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $287.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.40.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current year.

About Novartis

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.