Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Novartis (NYSE:NVS)

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 10,827 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 337% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,475 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE NVS traded up $8.81 on Tuesday, hitting $160.87. 2,544,580 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,922,448. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $155.14 and a 200-day moving average of $153.72. The stock has a market cap of $306.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.45. Novartis has a 52 week low of $121.57 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 23.29%.The company had revenue of $14.95 billion for the quarter. Analysts expect that Novartis will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Novartis by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 267,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,182 shares in the last quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP bought a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 94.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kintra Wealth LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 48.7% in the second quarter. Kintra Wealth LLC now owns 5,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $776,000 after buying an additional 1,677 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Novartis

Here are the key news stories impacting Novartis this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Remibrutinib meets Phase III goals: Novartis said the REMODEL-1 and REMODEL-2 trials met their primary endpoints, with remibrutinib significantly reducing annualized relapse rates versus teriflunomide. The drug also performed favorably on secondary measures, including MRI lesion reductions, and a combined analysis indicated a clinically meaningful delay in disability progression. Novartis plans to present detailed data and seek regulatory approvals globally, strengthening the drug’s potential as a future growth product. Novartis’ oral multiple sclerosis drug meets main goal in late stage studies
• Positive Sentiment: Large-market opportunity supports investor optimism: The apparent superiority over an established multiple sclerosis treatment, combined with a favorable safety profile, improves the commercial prospects for remibrutinib and provides a positive read-through for Novartis’ pipeline. Novartis Reported Encouraging Trial Data for a Multiple Sclerosis Drug
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed institutional and options signals: Recent filings show both notable additions and reductions by large investors, while put-option activity was unusually high. These positioning indicators may reflect hedging or heightened volatility rather than a clear change in long-term sentiment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Minor earnings-estimate reduction: Erste Group Bank modestly lowered its FY2027 EPS forecast to $9.80 from $9.82, a change too small to materially alter the investment outlook. Erste Group Bank Forecasts Reduced Earnings for Novartis
• Negative Sentiment: Autoimmune cell-therapy trials paused: Novartis halted eight studies of experimental rap-cel after three patient deaths. The pause creates safety concerns and could delay or reduce the value of this portion of the pipeline, although the impact was overshadowed by the remibrutinib data. Novartis pauses autoimmune cell therapy studies after deaths

About Novartis

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.