Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Cuts Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 311,826 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,029 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $47,632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Novartis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148,033 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,465,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,029,317,000 after purchasing an additional 226,484 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Novartis by 13,687.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594,726 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,605,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,658,000 after purchasing an additional 78,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Novartis by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,479,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,562,000 after purchasing an additional 419,988 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $155.31 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $296.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $149.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $112.34 and a 12 month high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NVS shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Company Profile

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.