Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank cut its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,554 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,818 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% during the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,407 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,535,000 after acquiring an additional 422,869 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter valued at about $24,763,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 38.5% during the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 310,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,560,000 after acquiring an additional 86,351 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $130.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $125.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.91. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $133.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $274.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.97 earnings per share. Novartis’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.33.

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.