Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,790,000 shares, a decrease of 16.0% from the September 30th total of 5,700,000 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS traded down $0.64 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $109.89. 2,845,631 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,349,550. Novartis has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $116.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.02.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,473,000 after acquiring an additional 16,015 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 40.1% in the first quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,819,000 after purchasing an additional 590,830 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its position in Novartis by 53.7% in the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after purchasing an additional 666,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 191.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.