Morningstar Investment Services LLC Decreases Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Morningstar Investment Services LLC cut its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 405,395 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,350 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $37,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Novartis by 103.0% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,992,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,806 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth about $55,110,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 27.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,781,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,085,000 after acquiring an additional 594,194 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 872.0% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 619,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,240,000 after acquiring an additional 556,154 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,503,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,313,000 after acquiring an additional 465,677 shares during the period. 8.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:NVS traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $97.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,696,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,117,334. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $105.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.18. The company has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.16. Novartis had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 23.29%. The company had revenue of $12.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Novartis’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $75.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Citigroup lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.25.

Novartis Profile

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Novartis AG is a holding company, which engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz, and Corporate. The Innovative Medicines segment researches, develops, manufactures, distributes and sells patented pharmaceuticals, and is composed of two business units: Novartis Oncology and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.