Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 808 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 103,010 shares of the company’s stock after selling 808 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $9,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,346,000 after purchasing an additional 8,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carlson Capital Management purchased a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $335,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE NVS traded down $0.98 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $107.75. The stock had a trading volume of 971,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,477,968. The business’s 50 day moving average is $105.49 and its 200-day moving average is $102.22. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $112.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $220.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

Novartis 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.