Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Intrua Financial LLC

Intrua Financial LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 17.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,876 shares of the company’s stock after selling 388 shares during the quarter. Intrua Financial LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new position in Novartis during the first quarter worth $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 366.0% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $124.12 on Friday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $130.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $262.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.63.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 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.