Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Sees Large Volume Increase on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday after Argus upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Argus now has a $180.00 price target on the stock. Approximately 2,314,580 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the previous session’s volume of 2,436,627 shares.The stock last traded at $155.9420 and had previously closed at $161.59.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on NVS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 479,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,203,000 after purchasing an additional 21,364 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 13,687.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,103,000 after buying an additional 4,594,726 shares in the last quarter. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $263,000. Mengis Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 70,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,754,000 after buying an additional 6,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $153.38 and its 200 day moving average is $137.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $330.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.49.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. Novartis’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.98 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $4.773 per share. This represents a yield of 295.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.31%.

About Novartis

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.