Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Downgraded to Hold Rating by DZ Bank

DZ Bank downgraded shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on NVS. Bank of America upgraded Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Friday. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $112.00 price objective on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Cfra set a $126.00 target price on Novartis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.75.

Novartis Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE NVS traded up $1.37 on Monday, reaching $159.57. The stock had a trading volume of 629,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,100,972. The company has a market capitalization of $337.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Novartis has a 1 year low of $97.71 and a 1 year high of $159.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $141.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $524.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. The company’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Novartis will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $4.773 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 312.0%. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 36.31%.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 214.0% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 829 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $333,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Novartis by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 207.1% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Novartis

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.