Grandfield & Dodd LLC Sells 7,470 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Grandfield & Dodd LLC cut its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 155,348 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,470 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $21,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in Novartis by 15,950.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 321 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Down 0.8%

Novartis stock opened at $150.22 on Friday. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $111.06 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $149.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.74. The company has a market capitalization of $286.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

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.