First Trust Advisors LP Decreases Position in Novartis AG $NVS

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 419,034 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,429 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Novartis were worth $50,707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,121,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,762,000 after acquiring an additional 358,282 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Novartis by 1.4% in 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 last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 60.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.2% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,058,000 after purchasing an additional 47,690 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $130.17 on Tuesday. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $134.24. The company has a market cap of $274.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $129.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.61.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The company’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.06 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 target price (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.33.

About Novartis

Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of 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.