Novartis’ (NVS) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank reiterated their hold rating on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $103.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.00.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Novartis will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novartis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Novartis during the third quarter valued at about $3,819,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $427,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 40.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 12,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 3,596 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares during the period. Finally, Abel Hall LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.