Boston Common Asset Management LLC Sells 10,970 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Boston Common Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,266 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,970 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $15,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Novartis by 124.3% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC now owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $366,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 2,561.0% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 38,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,375,000 after purchasing an additional 37,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. DZ Bank lowered Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Argus upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $150.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $156.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.49. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $97.71 and a 52 week high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

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

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.