Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 7,000 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its Novartis stake by 2.5% in the first quarter, selling 7,000 shares and leaving it with 267,950 shares valued at about $40.93 million.
• Novartis has seen mixed analyst sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $170 with an overweight rating, while the overall consensus remains Hold with a target of $141.20.
• The company reported Q1 EPS of $1.99, missing expectations, though revenue came in at $13.52 billion, slightly ahead of estimates; shares recently traded at $154.06.

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 267,950 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Novartis were worth $40,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust increased its holdings in Novartis by 425.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 231 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Novartis from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $154.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.22. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $112.34 and a fifty-two week high of $170.46. The firm has a market cap of $293.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company's activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.

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