Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB reduced its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,243 shares of the company’s stock after selling 216 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NVS. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 366.0% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. GFG Capital LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 66.0% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.33.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $130.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $275.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $133.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.16.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS 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.