CFO4Life Group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

CFO4Life Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 9.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,989 shares of the company’s stock after selling 630 shares during the quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,183,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,372,000 after purchasing an additional 90,823 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,706,000 after purchasing an additional 368,171 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,522,000 after purchasing an additional 399,862 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,258,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,313,000 after purchasing an additional 55,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $109,739,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 1.0%

NVS opened at $122.95 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $124.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 24.70%. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. Analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.67.

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.