Analysts Set Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Price Target at $120.33

Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $120.3333.

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $132.41 on Friday. Novartis has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $133.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $279.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.97 EPS. Novartis’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Novartis will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GFG Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 366.0% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.