Novartis’ (NVS) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank reissued their hold rating on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

NVS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $104.28 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.05. The company has a market capitalization of $213.15 billion, a PE ratio of 12.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Novartis will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Novartis by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,127,000 after buying an additional 6,767 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth about $15,044,000. Integral Health Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 33.3% in the second quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,938,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $854,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Novartis by 115.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 231,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,797,000 after purchasing an additional 124,111 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.