Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Price Target Increased to $122.50 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) had its price objective hoisted by Jefferies Financial Group from $121.00 to $122.50 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on NVS. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a strong sell rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Down 0.1 %

Novartis stock opened at $106.47 on Tuesday. Novartis has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $108.78. The stock has a market cap of $217.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $11.83 billion for 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%. Research analysts predict that Novartis will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Novartis by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,076,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,162,000 after acquiring an additional 8,116 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Novartis by 314.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,563,000 after acquiring an additional 41,815 shares during the period. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 368.3% during the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,045,000 after acquiring an additional 15,927 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.