FY2026 EPS Estimates for Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Lifted by Analyst

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Zacks Research raised their FY2026 earnings estimates for shares of Novartis in a research report issued on Monday, April 22nd. Zacks Research analyst E. Bagri now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $8.47 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $8.36. The consensus estimate for Novartis' current full-year earnings is $7.13 per share.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on NVS. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Novartis in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.00.

Novartis Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:NVS traded up $2.17 on Tuesday, hitting $97.29. The company had a trading volume of 3,837,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,539,165. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $97.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.99. Novartis has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $108.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a return on equity of 29.90% and a net margin of 29.83%. The company had revenue of $11.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This represents a yield of 3.1%. This is an increase from Novartis's previous annual dividend of $3.47. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis's dividend payout ratio is 33.84%.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,746,599 shares of the company's stock valued at $479,264,000 after acquiring an additional 54,683 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,539,265 shares of the company's stock valued at $258,650,000 after acquiring an additional 51,391 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,803,000 after acquiring an additional 686,847 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 167.6% during the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,442,003 shares of the company's stock valued at $145,599,000 after acquiring an additional 33,791 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.