Hemenway Trust Co LLC Sells 8,791 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Hemenway Trust Co LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 44.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,189 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,791 shares during the period. Hemenway Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 13.5% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.1% during the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services grew its holdings in Novartis by 7.5% during the third quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 7,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $821,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 21.3% in the third quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 4,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Down 0.6 %

Novartis stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $105.08. 87,048 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,336,663. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.83. The company has a market capitalization of $214.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Novartis

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.