Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 2,988 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 52,932 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,988 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,767 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,044,000. Integral Health Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,938,000 after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $854,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 115.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 231,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,797,000 after acquiring an additional 124,111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NVS stock opened at $103.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $211.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis 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.