Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lowered its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 37,658 shares of the company’s stock after selling 728 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 23.1% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 0.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,473,000 after buying an additional 16,015 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 40.1% during the first quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,819,000 after buying an additional 590,830 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 53.7% during the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after purchasing an additional 666,104 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 191.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Down 2.3 %

NYSE NVS opened at $106.81 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $115.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.55. The stock has a market cap of $218.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

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.