Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Trims Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. reduced its stake in Novartis AG by 58.5% during the second quarter, owning 10,113 shares after selling 14,245 shares.
• Novartis reported earnings of $2.42 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.38 and showing a revenue increase of 12.3% year-over-year.
• Various institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs and New Vernon Capital Holdings, have modified their positions in Novartis, with some significantly increasing their stakes.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lowered its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 58.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,113 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,245 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 60.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company's stock worth $408,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,372,407 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock worth $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at about $24,763,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 310,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,560,000 after buying an additional 86,351 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $130.54 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $126.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.37. The stock has a market cap of $275.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $133.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.97 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $118.00 target price (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research 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 assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $120.33.

Novartis 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.

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