Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Research Coverage Started at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on NVS. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. HSBC downgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $105.43 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Novartis has a 12 month low of $92.35 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $100.63 and a 200-day moving average of $108.33. The company has a market capitalization of $215.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Novartis will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 503.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.