Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Given “Hold” Rating at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Novartis (NYSE:NVS)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $107.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $219.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.17. Novartis has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Novartis will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Private Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 73.5% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.