Blair William & Co. IL Sells 823 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,162 shares of the company’s stock after selling 823 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Novartis were worth $8,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Private Ocean LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 73.5% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $115.92 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.46. The company has a market capitalization of $236.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57.

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

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.