Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 238,410 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Primecap Management Co. CA cut its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,179,345 shares of the company’s stock after selling 238,410 shares during the period. Novartis comprises about 0.9% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,296,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Novartis by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,746,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,264,000 after purchasing an additional 54,683 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 0.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,473,000 after purchasing an additional 16,015 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 0.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,523,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,082,000 after purchasing an additional 14,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in Novartis by 40.1% in the first quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,819,000 after purchasing an additional 590,830 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:NVS opened at $116.95 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $239.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $113.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.11. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.70.

About Novartis

Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.