Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 485,330 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,238 shares during the period. Novartis comprises 1.1% of Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $62,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 358,282 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,581,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,427,000 after buying an additional 78,483 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,302,000 after acquiring an additional 82,369 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Novartis by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,597,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,552,000 after acquiring an additional 12,345 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 927,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,214,000 after acquiring an additional 30,950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on NVS shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. DZ Bank lowered Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock opened at $168.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.71. The stock has a market cap of $356.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.50. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $97.71 and a 12-month high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.Novartis’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Novartis AG 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 issued a $4.773 dividend. This represents a yield of 312.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 36.31%.

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.