Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Sells 5,419 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 151,029 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,419 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $20,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 102.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,516,000 after buying an additional 11,444 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter valued at about $1,764,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 48.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4%

Novartis stock opened at $155.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $327.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.52. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $100.49 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $157.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.59. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.Novartis’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

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.