Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 136,368 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,728 shares during the period. Novartis comprises about 3.3% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $15,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its position in Novartis by 366.0% in 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $120.30 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $113.95 and a 200-day moving average of $108.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $254.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.59. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.70% and a return on equity of 39.44%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 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.

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