Kennon Green & Company LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Kennon Green & Company LLC reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,378 shares of the company’s stock after selling 583 shares during the period. Kennon Green & Company LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 191.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 53.7% in the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after buying an additional 666,104 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its stake in Novartis by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after buying an additional 590,830 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 99.0% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 746,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,661,000 after acquiring an additional 371,590 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,003,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock opened at $115.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.19 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $113.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

About Novartis

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.