Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Sells 1,393 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. cut its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 17.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,449 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,393 shares during the period. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Novartis by 5.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,535,000 after acquiring an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,058,000 after purchasing an additional 47,690 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 8.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,736,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,181,000 after buying an additional 128,302 shares during the period. Finally, New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 12,664.1% during the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $131.91 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $278.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $134.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $127.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The company had revenue of $13.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NVS. The Goldman Sachs Group restated 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, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, October 27th. Cfra Research upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.33.

Novartis 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.