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

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $120.3333.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st.

Novartis Stock Down 4.5%

Shares of NVS stock opened at $123.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $127.63 and a 200 day moving average of $119.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $260.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.64. Novartis has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $133.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $13.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after buying an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Novartis by 489.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 564,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,369,000 after buying an additional 469,080 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Novartis by 5.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 5.3% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,121,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,762,000 after buying an additional 358,282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Company 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.