Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Reduces Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,604 shares of the company’s stock after selling 770 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,908,000 after buying an additional 296,950 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,669,000 after buying an additional 70,314 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,161,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,990,000 after buying an additional 52,044 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,986,000 after buying an additional 26,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 780,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,289,000 after buying an additional 123,077 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock opened at $115.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $104.02 and a 200-day moving average of $108.02. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.35 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $236.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. HSBC lowered Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

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.