Novartis AG $NVS Stock Position Cut by Wellington Management Group LLP

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its holdings in Novartis AG by 18% in Q1, now owning approximately 2.99 million shares valued at $333.47 million after selling 656,535 shares.
• Novartis reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.04, and having a revenue increase of 12.3% year-over-year.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from “underweight” to “equal weight,” setting a price target of $123, with most analysts currently rating the stock as a “Hold.”

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 18.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,991,326 shares of the company's stock after selling 656,535 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.14% of Novartis worth $333,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 2.4% during the first quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 4,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 3.9% during the first quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,757 shares of the company's stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its stake in Novartis by 3.8% during the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 2,828 shares of the company's stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 4.5% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.50.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS traded up $0.1210 on Friday, reaching $126.9410. The company had a trading volume of 1,339,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,553,184. The company has a fifty day moving average of $119.37 and a 200-day moving average of $113.71. The company has a market capitalization of $268.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.62. 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 one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $128.03.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during 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%. Novartis's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.