Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Cullen Investment Group LTD.

Cullen Investment Group LTD. reduced its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,936 shares of the company’s stock after selling 465 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 39,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,377,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 87,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,720,000 after acquiring an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its position in shares of Novartis by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 20,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $864,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Novartis by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 38,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,303,000 after acquiring an additional 3,846 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Novartis Trading Down 2.8%

NYSE:NVS opened at $124.12 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $130.46. The stock has a market cap of $262.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a fifty day moving average of $121.72 and a 200-day moving average of $115.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis 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.