Traders Buy Large Volume of Novartis Call Options (NYSE:NVS)

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 11,646 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 460% compared to the average daily volume of 2,080 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,568,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 368.3% in the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after acquiring an additional 15,927 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Novartis by 3.4% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Novartis in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HSBC lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.33.

Novartis Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NVS stock opened at $94.34 on Friday. Novartis has a 52-week low of $92.19 and a 52-week high of $108.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.32.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a return on equity of 29.90% and a net margin of 29.83%. The business had revenue of $11.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Novartis will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 34.12%.

Novartis Company Profile

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. It 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.