Boston Common Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Boston Common Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,583 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,877 shares during the quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $16,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after buying an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Novartis by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,058,000 after buying an additional 47,690 shares during the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its position in Novartis by 12,664.1% during the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,262,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,770,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NVS stock opened at $132.41 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $123.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $279.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.64. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $133.37.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. Research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.33.

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.