Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 830,365 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,494 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $83,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 480.0% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 69.1% in the third quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price objective on the stock.

Novartis Trading Down 1.6 %

NVS stock traded down $1.62 on Friday, hitting $97.44. 1,562,845 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,827,393. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $108.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $97.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a return on equity of 32.15% and a net margin of 31.33%. The company had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This is a positive change from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a yield of 3.1%. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 32.79%.

Novartis Company 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.