UBS Group Reiterates Neutral Rating for Novartis (NYSE:NVS)

UBS Group restated their neutral rating on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

NVS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $105.43 on Thursday. Novartis has a twelve month low of $92.35 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $215.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $100.70 and its 200 day moving average is $108.30.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NVS. Hutner Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Novartis by 129.3% during the 4th quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 3,324 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,074,000. AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $424,000. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 16,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 4,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Novartis by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,522,000 after purchasing an additional 399,862 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.