Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. trimmed its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 23.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 163,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 49,798 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $25,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in Novartis by 13,687.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594,726 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth $220,004,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Novartis by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,860,000 after buying an additional 1,148,033 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,414,000 after buying an additional 895,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth about $108,638,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $151.02 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $121.57 and a 52-week high of $170.46. The stock has a market cap of $288.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $153.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $14.95 billion for the quarter. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 23.29%. On average, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NVS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

About Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.