First City Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

First City Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,626 shares of the company’s stock after selling 735 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $450,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 503.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Clean Yield Group purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price target (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, HSBC lowered Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $97.69. The company had a trading volume of 939,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,001,630. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.53. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $199.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.65 earnings per share 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.