Patten & Patten Inc. TN Trims Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Key Points

• Patten & Patten Inc. TN reduced its stake in Novartis AG by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, owning 27,237 shares valued at approximately $3,036,000 after selling 2,823 shares.
• BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating, contributing to a diverse analyst rating of the stock that includes three sell ratings, six holds, one buy, and two strong buys.
• Novartis announced earnings of $2.42 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue increase of 12.3% year-over-year, totaling $14.05 billion.

Patten & Patten Inc. TN reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,237 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,823 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN's holdings in Novartis were worth $3,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 423,142 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,176,000 after acquiring an additional 111,066 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 33,621 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 63,045 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,135,000 after acquiring an additional 10,113 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded 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 assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.67.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $117.62 on Monday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $117.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.24. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $124.83. The company 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. 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 (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict 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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