Erste Group Bank Decreases Earnings Estimates for Novartis

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) – Research analysts at Erste Group Bank decreased their FY2027 EPS estimates for shares of Novartis in a research note issued on Wednesday, July 15th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the company will post earnings of $9.67 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $9.76. The consensus estimate for Novartis’ current full-year earnings is $8.76 per share.

NVS has been the topic of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $152.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $291.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 2.60 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $151.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.59. Novartis has a 52 week low of $112.34 and a 52 week high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 13,687.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,103,000 after buying an additional 4,594,726 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at approximately $220,004,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Novartis by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,860,000 after buying an additional 1,148,033 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,414,000 after acquiring an additional 895,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,638,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.