JFS Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,909 shares of the company’s stock after selling 104 shares during the quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 15.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after purchasing an additional 231,851 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,669,000 after purchasing an additional 70,314 shares in the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,161,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,990,000 after buying an additional 52,044 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Novartis by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,986,000 after buying an additional 26,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Novartis by 18.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 780,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,289,000 after buying an additional 123,077 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $105.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.35 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $215.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $100.70 and its 200 day moving average is $108.25.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. Research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.42 EPS for the current 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.