Park National Corp OH Reduces Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Park National Corp OH decreased its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,946 shares of the company’s stock after selling 404 shares during the quarter. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. TD Asset Management Inc grew 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 in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Novartis by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 678,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,526,000 after buying an additional 7,870 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 27,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,809,000 after buying an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 30,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,130,000 after buying an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 76,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,692,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.70.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $113.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $115.35 and its 200-day moving average is $106.41. The stock has a market cap of $232.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

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

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.