Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 231,200 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Renaissance Technologies LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 17.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,111,833 shares of the company’s stock after selling 231,200 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $169,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Novartis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148,033 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,465,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,029,317,000 after purchasing an additional 226,484 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in Novartis by 13,687.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594,726 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,605,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,658,000 after purchasing an additional 78,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,479,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,562,000 after purchasing an additional 419,988 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NVS. Weiss Ratings lowered Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $154.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $295.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $151.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.13. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $14.95 billion during the quarter. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 23.29%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

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.