Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Sells 1,435 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 14.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,405 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,435 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter worth $266,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Novartis by 16.8% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 47,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,311,000 after purchasing an additional 6,849 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter worth $1,909,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 10.4% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 33,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,710,000 after purchasing an additional 3,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 9.0% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $132.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $279.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $123.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $96.06 and a 12 month high of $133.37.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS 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.