Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by Nilsine Partners LLC

Nilsine Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,018 shares of the company’s stock after selling 346 shares during the quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $109,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $88,339,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 14,376.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,079,000 after buying an additional 722,272 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,522,000 after buying an additional 399,862 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,706,000 after buying an additional 368,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $115.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $244.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.52. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 24.70%. Novartis’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.