Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by Choreo LLC

Choreo LLC lessened its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,283 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,504 shares during the period. Choreo LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $3,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 366.0% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $117.62. The company had a trading volume of 2,455,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,856,137. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 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 $124.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $117.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $248.46 billion, a PE ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.59.

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

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.