StockNews.com Downgrades Novartis (NYSE:NVS) to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday.

NVS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. HSBC lowered Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $104.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $213.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. Equities analysts forecast that Novartis will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 503.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clean Yield Group acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Novartis

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.