Neuberger Berman Group LLC Has $15.61 Million Stock Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,739 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,440 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $15,612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,376,000 after purchasing an additional 117,952 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,581,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $675,427,000 after acquiring an additional 78,483 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,302,000 after acquiring an additional 82,369 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Novartis by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,597,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,552,000 after purchasing an additional 12,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 927,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,214,000 after purchasing an additional 30,950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $112.00 price target on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. DZ Bank lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Novartis Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $160.21 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.23. The company has a market cap of $338.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.49. 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 AG has a 1 year low of $97.71 and a 1 year high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. The business had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.98 earnings per share. Novartis’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

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