Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Sells 943 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,503 shares of the company’s stock after selling 943 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 366.0% in 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 last quarter. GFG Capital LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 66.0% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $131.46 on Friday. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $133.55. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $126.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.52. The company has a market cap of $277.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis 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.