Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Sold by MQS Management LLC

MQS Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 50.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,772 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,879 shares during the quarter. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,626,000 after buying an additional 1,389,610 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Novartis by 191.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,318 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 53.7% during the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after acquiring an additional 666,104 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its position in shares of Novartis by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after purchasing an additional 590,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 99.0% in the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 746,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,661,000 after purchasing an additional 371,590 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.70.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $116.00 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.19 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.36. The company has a market cap of $237.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

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.