Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Stock Position Trimmed by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp lowered its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 184,009 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,266 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $18,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 167.6% during the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,307 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 50.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,803,000 after purchasing an additional 686,847 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 1,936.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 387,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,158,000 after buying an additional 368,778 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 6,599.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 149,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,084,000 after buying an additional 147,165 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in Novartis by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 447,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,591,000 after buying an additional 146,327 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $97.27. 1,045,674 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,908,977. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.96. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $108.78. The company has a market cap of $198.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.53.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $11.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

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

About Novartis

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.