Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Downgraded to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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 shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:NVS opened at $104.99 on Friday. Novartis has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.19, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Novartis will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 503.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in Novartis during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.