Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Dillon & Associates Inc.

Dillon & Associates Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 25.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,277 shares of the company’s stock after selling 784 shares during the period. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 304.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Novartis by 489.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 564,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,369,000 after purchasing an additional 469,080 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp boosted its holdings in Novartis by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 5,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors boosted its holdings in Novartis by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 3,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its holdings in Novartis by 39.7% in the 2nd quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 4,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on NVS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.33.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock opened at $123.97 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.37. The company has a market capitalization of $261.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.64. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $133.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 41.21%. The company had revenue of $13.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.06 earnings per share. Novartis’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share 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.