Simmons Bank Sells 232 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Simmons Bank reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,287 shares of the company’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Novartis by 1.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,767 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Novartis by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,485,000 after purchasing an additional 11,080 shares during the last quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,938,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the second quarter worth about $854,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Down 1.0 %

NVS stock opened at $103.89 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $212.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50-day moving average is $113.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.88. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.61 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.