American Century Companies Inc. Lowers Position in Novartis AG $NVS

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 561,064 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,297 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $71,951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,121,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,762,000 after purchasing an additional 358,282 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.4% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,581,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,427,000 after acquiring an additional 78,483 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 4.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,302,000 after acquiring an additional 82,369 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,597,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,552,000 after acquiring an additional 12,345 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in Novartis by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 927,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,214,000 after purchasing an additional 30,950 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Barclays raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.75.

Novartis Stock Up 0.6%

Novartis stock opened at $165.17 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $348.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.07, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.49. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $97.71 and a 12-month high of $170.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $151.56 and its 200 day moving average is $136.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.98 EPS. Novartis’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $4.773 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 312.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.31%.

About Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.