Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC reduced its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,529 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,025 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $8,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BNP Paribas raised Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS traded down $0.56 during trading on Thursday, hitting $117.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,447,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,023,237. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.82. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $248.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.59. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $124.83.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share 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.