Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• The Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Novartis AG by 8.0%, selling 47,490 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with a total of 543,232 shares valued at approximately $60.6 million.
• Other institutional investors have also made significant adjustments to their holdings, including Wealthcare Advisory Partners, which increased its stake by 9.0%, and Versant Capital Management, which boosted its holdings by an astonishing 856.3%.
• Novartis reported quarterly earnings of $2.42 EPS, exceeding the analysts' expectations, and achieved a revenue increase of 12.3% year-over-year with revenues of $14.05 billion.

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 543,232 shares of the company's stock after selling 47,490 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada's holdings in Novartis were worth $60,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company's stock valued at $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Novartis by 14,376.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,079,000 after acquiring an additional 722,272 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $959,535,000 after acquiring an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 1st quarter worth approximately $24,763,000. Finally, Parkwood LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,482,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE:NVS traded down $1.56 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $126.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 984,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,016,134. The business's 50-day moving average is $121.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $115.51. The company has a market capitalization of $267.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $130.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for 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%. The business's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on NVS. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $124.33.

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.