Novartis Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:NVS)

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 11,646 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 460% compared to the average daily volume of 2,080 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVS. HSBC downgraded shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $104.33.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE:NVS traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $94.34. 1,623,263 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,482,620. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $99.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.35. Novartis has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $108.78. The company has a market cap of $199.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 29.90%. The business had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Novartis will post 7.17 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This is a boost from Novartis's previous annual dividend of $3.47. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 13.2% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 15,380 shares of the company's stock worth $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,788 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 3.0% in the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 179,964 shares of the company's stock worth $17,408,000 after acquiring an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS raised its holdings in Novartis by 82.7% in the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 10,922 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,062,000 after buying an additional 4,943 shares during the period. Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 2.0% in the first quarter. Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC now owns 84,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,182,000 after buying an additional 1,631 shares during the period. Finally, Tealwood Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis by 0.5% in the first quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,365,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Company Profile

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. It 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.