Naviter Wealth LLC Reduces Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Naviter Wealth LLC lowered its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,658 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,873 shares during the period. Novartis makes up approximately 0.7% of Naviter Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the third quarter worth about $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 39.0% during the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 47.4% during the third quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $151.00 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $156.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.12. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $97.71 and a fifty-two week high of $170.46. The company has a market capitalization of $318.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.52.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $4.773 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s payout ratio is currently 43.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on NVS. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and set a $112.00 target price on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Barclays upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.