First Foundation Advisors Decreases Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

First Foundation Advisors lowered its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,501 shares of the company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Novartis were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974 shares during the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,162,000 after purchasing an additional 8,116 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 314.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,563,000 after purchasing an additional 41,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth $2,968,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS stock traded down $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $106.13. 1,683,292 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,398,091. The firm has a market cap of $216.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.21. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $112.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.63%. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis 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.