Erste Group Bank Weighs in on Novartis FY2026 Earnings

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) – Equities research analysts at Erste Group Bank reduced their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for Novartis in a report issued on Tuesday, May 12th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $8.64 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $8.70. The consensus estimate for Novartis’ current full-year earnings is $8.85 per share.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:NVS opened at $149.05 on Tuesday. Novartis has a twelve month low of $109.29 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $284.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 13,687.0% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,103,000 after acquiring an additional 4,594,726 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth about $220,004,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148,033 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,414,000 after acquiring an additional 895,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $108,638,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Company Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.