Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 7,000 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 267,950 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Novartis were worth $40,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 425.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 231 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on NVS. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $154.06 on Monday. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The stock has a market cap of $293.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $150.86 and its 200-day moving average is $151.22.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. Novartis’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.77 EPS for the current year.

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.