Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have given Novartis AG an average recommendation of "Hold," with three sell ratings, four hold ratings, one buy, and one strong buy rating.
• The average twelve-month price objective for Novartis among analysts is approximately $120.33.
• In its latest quarterly earnings, Novartis reported $2.42 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $2.38 and reflecting a 12.3% year-over-year revenue increase.

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $120.3333.

NVS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "sell" rating and set a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th.

Novartis Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:NVS opened at $123.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis has a 1-year low of $96.06 and a 1-year high of $130.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $261.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.52.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.97 EPS. Novartis's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Caldwell Trust Co bought a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $378,000. Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 3,445 shares of the company's stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,266 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 78.0% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 181,477 shares of the company's stock worth $21,371,000 after purchasing an additional 79,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Novartis in the second quarter worth $97,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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