Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Decreases Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. cut its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,542 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,764 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Novartis by 2.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,539,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,650,000 after buying an additional 51,391 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,803,000 after acquiring an additional 686,847 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 167.6% during the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,307 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 3.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,221,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,431,000 after purchasing an additional 36,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Novartis by 10.9% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 863,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,993,000 after purchasing an additional 85,075 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NVS. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $95.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $194.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.54. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $108.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $97.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 29.90%. The business had revenue of $11.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.51 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This represents a yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.84%.

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.