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

Key Points

• Novartis AG has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from eleven analysts, with two sell ratings, seven hold ratings, one buy, and one strong buy recommendation.
• The average 12-month price objective for Novartis is $123.50, reflecting a generally cautious outlook from analysts on the stock's future performance.
• In its recent quarterly report, Novartis announced an EPS of $2.42, exceeding estimates of $2.38, and a revenue of $14.05 billion, indicating a strong performance with a 12.3% year-over-year increase.

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $124.3333.

NVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. 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 report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GFG Capital LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the second quarter worth $26,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter worth $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter worth $25,000. Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 366.0% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:NVS traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $129.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,339,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,115,365. Novartis has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $130.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $121.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.15. The company has a market capitalization of $274.10 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.63.

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