Camden National Bank Sells 1,251 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Camden National Bank cut its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,057 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,251 shares during the quarter. Camden National Bank’s holdings in Novartis were worth $8,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 60.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,372,407 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Novartis by 489.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 564,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,369,000 after purchasing an additional 469,080 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Novartis by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Trust Co acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,297,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Cfra set a $126.00 price target on shares of Novartis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered shares of Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.33.

Novartis Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NVS stock opened at $127.28 on Friday. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $134.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $127.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.83. The stock has a market cap of $268.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $13.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 41.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.06 EPS. Analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

About Novartis

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.