U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 84,592 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 86.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,901 shares of the company’s stock after selling 84,592 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Novartis by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,162,000 after buying an additional 8,116 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 6.5% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,485,000 after buying an additional 11,080 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Novartis by 314.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,563,000 after buying an additional 41,815 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS traded up $0.87 on Friday, hitting $111.89. 1,037,513 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,516,447. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $113.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $108.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.41 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.