Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Stock Rating Lowered by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on NVS. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised Novartis to a strong sell rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a hold rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $118.13.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock opened at $118.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. Novartis has a one year low of $92.19 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $242.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $112.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.21.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. 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 firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Novartis will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 73.5% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.