Park National Corp OH Lowers Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Park National Corp OH lessened its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,755 shares of the company’s stock after selling 90 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted 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 buying an additional 3,846 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 856.3% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 6,722 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Novartis Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NVS opened at $124.12 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $130.46. The company has a market capitalization of $262.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

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.