Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, December 29th. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and issued a $112.00 price objective on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. HC Wainwright lowered Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Cfra Research upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, October 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.75.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $137.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $291.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $131.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.43. Novartis has a twelve month low of $97.39 and a twelve month high of $140.18.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 41.21%. The business had revenue of $14.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter valued at about $1,307,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 102.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,516,000 after buying an additional 11,444 shares in the last quarter. Plancorp LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 77.9% in the first quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 8,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 3,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ruggaard & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.6% in the first quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 7,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $825,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Company Profile

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.