Banco Santander S.A. Sells 1,220 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Banco Santander S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,220 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Novartis by 23.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after buying an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Novartis by 0.6% during 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. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 53.7% in the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after buying an additional 666,104 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 191.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after buying an additional 1,250,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,112,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,436,000 after buying an additional 267,490 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $103.76 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $112.10 and its 200 day moving average is $110.00. The company has a market capitalization of $212.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.