Novartis AG $NVS Stock Position Lessened by Cullen Investment Group LTD.

Cullen Investment Group LTD. decreased its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,936 shares of the company’s stock after selling 465 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $597,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Tsfg LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 366.0% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.33.

Novartis Trading Down 2.8%

NYSE:NVS opened at $124.12 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 AG has a 1-year low of $96.06 and a 1-year high of $130.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.73.

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

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.