D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 6,899 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

D.A. Davidson & CO. trimmed its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 212,815 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,899 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $32,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Archer Investment Corp lifted its stake in Novartis by 93.0% in the 1st quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust boosted its holdings in Novartis by 425.0% during the fourth 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. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the third quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $150.89 on Thursday. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $112.34 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The company has a market capitalization of $287.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.77 earnings per share 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.