Novartis AG $NVS Position Decreased by Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY lessened its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 581,723 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,558 shares during the period. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Novartis were worth $74,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 1.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $928,376,000 after buying an additional 117,952 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.4% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,581,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,427,000 after acquiring an additional 78,483 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,302,000 after acquiring an additional 82,369 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,602,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,458,000 after acquiring an additional 210,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Novartis by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,597,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,552,000 after purchasing an additional 12,345 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $154.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $325.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.49. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $97.71 and a 1-year high of $170.46.

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

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a $4.773 dividend. This represents a yield of 306.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s payout ratio is 43.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.80.

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.