Renaissance Technologies LLC Has $266.13 Million Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,499,782 shares of the company’s stock after selling 440,800 shares during the period. Novartis comprises 0.5% of Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.12% of Novartis worth $266,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Private Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 73.5% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NVS shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $115.66 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $236.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $113.58 and its 200 day moving average is $105.00.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 EPS 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.