Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by Grimes & Company Inc.

Grimes & Company Inc. cut its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 478 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its position in Novartis by 99.0% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 746,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,661,000 after buying an additional 371,590 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 1,936.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 387,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,158,000 after purchasing an additional 368,778 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at $32,003,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 6,599.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 149,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,084,000 after purchasing an additional 147,165 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in Novartis by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 447,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,591,000 after purchasing an additional 146,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS stock opened at $106.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.21. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $108.78. The stock has a market cap of $217.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $11.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. Research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.67.

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.