Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Stock

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lifted its price target on Novartis to $170 (from $143) and kept an overweight rating, implying roughly a 13% upside from current levels.
• Analyst opinions are mixed—2 Strong Buy, 6 Buy, 7 Hold and 2 Sell—leaving a MarketBeat consensus of Hold with an average price target of $141.20 while shares trade near $150.40.
• Novartis recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.03 vs. $1.99; revenue $13.86B), and the company has a market cap of about $318B with a trailing PE of ~21.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $143.00 to $170.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's price target indicates a potential upside of 13.03% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on NVS. Argus raised shares of Novartis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. HSBC reissued a "reduce" rating and issued a $112.00 price objective on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NVS stock traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $150.40. 643,583 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,358,331. Novartis has a 52 week low of $97.71 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50 day moving average of $155.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.58. The company has a market capitalization of $317.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.49.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.98 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company's stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 102.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 11,444 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the first quarter worth $1,764,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 48.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the company's stock valued at $963,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

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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