Voya Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Voya Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,285 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,940 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 49,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,975,000 after acquiring an additional 5,742 shares during the period. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Cypress Capital Group raised its position in Novartis by 84.1% in the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 5,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $699,000 after purchasing an additional 2,638 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Novartis by 16.8% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 47,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,311,000 after purchasing an additional 6,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the second quarter worth $1,909,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cfra set a $126.00 price objective on Novartis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cfra Research raised Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.75.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $138.03 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.88. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.91 and a one year high of $140.18. The company has a market cap of $291.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.52.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The firm had revenue of $14.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.