Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at HSBC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday, Briefing.com reports.
Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on NVS. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 25th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Novartis in a report on Wednesday, December 6th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.
Novartis Stock Performance
Shares of Novartis stock opened at $97.40 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $206.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Novartis has a 12 month low of $79.98 and a 12 month high of $105.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $95.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.17.
Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 28.27% and a net margin of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $11.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis
Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,556,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,587,000 after purchasing an additional 240,710 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.9% during the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 42.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.5% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,379,000 after purchasing an additional 4,122 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 22.8% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.00% of the company’s stock.
Novartis Company Profile
Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.