Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Reduces Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,769,638 shares of the company’s stock after selling 175,745 shares during the period. Novartis accounts for 0.9% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Novartis were worth $663,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 28.8% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 115,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,207,000 after buying an additional 3,696 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 10,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,025,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,473,000 after buying an additional 16,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on NVS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. 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. Bank of America lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $104.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $213.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.11, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $111.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.20.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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.