Stephens Inc. AR Sells 642 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 9.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock after selling 642 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Novartis were worth $738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Novartis by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Novartis by 12.1% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 242,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,907,000 after buying an additional 26,150 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 12.8% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 3,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the third quarter valued at $496,000. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 28,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,235,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $109.40 on Wednesday. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.35 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $223.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $115.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company 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.