Point72 Europe London LLP Has $11.40 Million Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Point72 Europe London LLP has reduced its holdings in Novartis AG by 3.4%, bringing its total shares to 102,259, valued at $11.4 million.
• Several major investors, including Goldman Sachs, have significantly increased their stakes in Novartis during the first quarter, indicative of growing institutional interest.
• Analysts predict positive performance for Novartis, with a consensus target price of $123.50 and a mix of ratings, including "buy" and "hold."

Point72 Europe London LLP lessened its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,259 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,570 shares during the period. Point72 Europe London LLP's holdings in Novartis were worth $11,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Novartis by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 60.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company's stock valued at $408,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,252 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 2.2% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company's stock valued at $243,058,000 after acquiring an additional 47,690 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC increased its position in Novartis by 4.6% during the first quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,258,639 shares of the company's stock worth $140,313,000 after acquiring an additional 55,316 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth about $109,739,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $126.41 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $120.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $267.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 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 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $128.03.

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. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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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