Radnor Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Radnor Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,925 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 99.0% in the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 746,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,661,000 after acquiring an additional 371,590 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 1,936.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 387,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,158,000 after purchasing an additional 368,778 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter worth about $32,003,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 6,599.3% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 149,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,084,000 after buying an additional 147,165 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 48.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 447,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,591,000 after buying an additional 146,327 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.67.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $107.13 on Monday. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.19 and a 12 month high of $108.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $100.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.89. The firm has a market cap of $218.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $11.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.27 earnings per share 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.