Park Avenue Securities LLC Trims Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Park Avenue Securities LLC lowered its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,579 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,313 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Novartis by 15.6% during the third quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,926,000 after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 5.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 132,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,001,000 after purchasing an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.8% during the third quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 439,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,411,000 after purchasing an additional 23,978 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $928,376,000 after purchasing an additional 117,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 27.7% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,305,000 after purchasing an additional 14,032 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Novartis

Here are the key news stories impacting Novartis this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Novartis agreed to acquire SNV4818, a pan‑mutant‑selective PI3Kα inhibitor, for $2 billion upfront and up to $1 billion in milestones — a deal that expands its HR+/HER2‑ breast cancer and precision‑oncology pipeline and adds a potential high‑value oncology asset. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerage coverage remains constructive overall: analyst consensus is a “Moderate Buy,” which supports investor confidence in the shares despite short‑term volatility. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein moved its rating to “hold” — a modest, neutral signal that suggests some analysts see less upside near term even as pipeline moves are positive. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.S. FDA flagged a potential seizure risk for certain Parkinson’s drugs and asked manufacturers to update labels — an industry‑wide safety alert that can increase regulatory scrutiny and short‑term selling pressure on pharma stocks; the direct impact on Novartis depends on its Parkinson’s portfolio exposure. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Argus raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.80.

Novartis Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:NVS opened at $145.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $308.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $155.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.16. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $97.71 and a 52 week high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The business had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $4.773 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.02%.

Novartis Company Profile

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.