Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Sells 4,825 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 10.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,817 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,825 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 102.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 11,444 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at $1,764,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NVS opened at $153.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.61. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

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.