Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $123.38.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NVS. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter worth $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 366.0% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $118.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $250.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Novartis has a 1-year low of $96.06 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $110.89 and its 200 day moving average is $106.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.