Brokerages Set Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Price Target at $141.20

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $141.20.

NVS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NVS. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 15.6% during the third quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,926,000 after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 439,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,411,000 after acquiring an additional 23,978 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 132,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,001,000 after purchasing an additional 6,924 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,376,000 after purchasing an additional 117,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,305,000 after purchasing an additional 14,032 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE NVS opened at $152.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $290.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.52. Novartis has a 52 week low of $104.93 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $157.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novartis will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $4.773 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. Novartis’s payout ratio is presently 43.02%.

About Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.