D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 106,074 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

D.A. Davidson & CO. lessened its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 224,547 shares of the company’s stock after selling 106,074 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $28,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Novartis by 5.3% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,121,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,762,000 after acquiring an additional 358,282 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in Novartis by 1.4% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,581,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,427,000 after acquiring an additional 78,483 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Novartis by 8.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,736,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,181,000 after buying an additional 128,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Novartis by 0.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,597,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,552,000 after buying an additional 12,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and issued a $112.00 price objective on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, December 29th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Novartis Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NVS opened at $138.50 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $292.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.27. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $97.18 and a 1-year high of $140.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.06 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis 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.