Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Receives $121.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $121.50.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NVS. HSBC downgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $99.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $101.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. now owns 24,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,394,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Northside Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 3,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 6,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Flywheel Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,000. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 192,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,711,000 after buying an additional 949 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Company Profile

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.