Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $141.20.

NVS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NVS. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 13,687.0% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594,726 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at $220,004,000. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Novartis by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,033 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,414,000 after acquiring an additional 895,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,638,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $156.32 on Friday. Novartis has a 12-month low of $112.34 and a 12-month high of $170.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.11.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 23.29%.The company had revenue of $14.95 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 8.75 EPS 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.