Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Downgraded to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America downgraded shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $130.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $135.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on NVS. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a hold rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a strong sell rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $120.70.

Novartis Trading Down 1.5 %

NVS opened at $115.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Novartis has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $113.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Novartis will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 valued at $788,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,610 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised 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 valued at $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $64,610,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its stake in Novartis by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after buying an additional 590,830 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.