Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 8,128 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Key Points

• Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Novartis AG by 6.4%, selling 8,128 shares and holding 118,019 shares worth approximately $13.16 million after the sale.
• BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating, amid mixed analyst opinions resulting in a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $123.67.
• Novartis reported earnings of $2.42 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, with a 12.3% year-over-year increase in revenue totaling $14.05 billion.

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 6.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,019 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,128 shares during the quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $13,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 366.0% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Trading Up 0.8%

Novartis stock traded up $0.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $116.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,585,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,143,527. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $118.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $96.06 and a 12 month high of $124.83. The stock has a market cap of $246.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NVS. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.50.

About Novartis

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.