Raymond James Financial Inc. Cuts Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. sold 11,448 shares of Novartis AG, reducing its stake by 1.3% to 896,364 shares, valued at approximately $99.9 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Russell Investments Group Ltd., increased their positions in Novartis during the fourth quarter, indicating growing institutional interest.
• Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from "underweight" to "equal weight," with a price target of $123.00, as the stock holds an average rating of "Hold" among analysts.

Raymond James Financial Inc. lowered its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 896,364 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,448 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $99,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 10,070 shares of the company's stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,586 shares of the company's stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $208,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $8,628,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price objective 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 given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.50.

Novartis Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:NVS traded up $0.1210 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $126.9410. 1,339,349 shares of the stock traded hands, 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. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $96.06 and a 12 month high of $128.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock 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.

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

Novartis Company Profile

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.