Erste Group Bank Cuts Earnings Estimates for Novartis

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) – Research analysts at Erste Group Bank decreased their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Novartis in a research report issued on Thursday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the company will earn $8.82 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $8.85. The consensus estimate for Novartis’ current full-year earnings is $8.45 per share.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on NVS. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Barclays raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Two equities research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Up 2.1%

NVS opened at $154.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $326.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $156.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $141.49. Novartis has a 12 month low of $97.71 and a 12 month high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. lifted its position in Novartis by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,926,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 132,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,001,000 after purchasing an additional 6,924 shares during the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 5.8% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 1.7% in the 3rd 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 position in Novartis by 27.7% in the 3rd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.