Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at DZ Bank

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) was downgraded by investment analysts at DZ Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on NVS. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $112.00 target price on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Cfra Research raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.75.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS traded up $1.68 on Monday, hitting $159.88. The company had a trading volume of 910,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,117,219. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $141.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.57. 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 stock has a market cap of $337.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.50. Novartis has a 1-year low of $97.71 and a 1-year high of $159.90.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $524.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. Analysts expect that Novartis will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Novartis by 102.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,516,000 after buying an additional 11,444 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the first quarter worth about $1,764,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Company 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.