Erste Group Bank Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Novartis (NYSE:NVS)

Erste Group Bank restated their hold rating on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on NVS. Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE NVS opened at $103.27 on Tuesday. Novartis 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 current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $211.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.58 and its 200-day moving average is $110.10.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,389,610 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of 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. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 53.7% in the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,372,000 after purchasing an additional 666,104 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 191.1% during 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, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after buying an additional 231,851 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.