Financial Advocates Investment Management Sells 221 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Financial Advocates Investment Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,103 shares of the company’s stock after selling 221 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 73.5% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Novartis in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $109.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $223.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.12.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.56 EPS for the current year.

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.