Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 209,522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,794 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $25,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 29.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 17.2% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 10.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 11,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 100.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NVS. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $130.48 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $133.55. The firm has a market cap of $275.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.49.

About Novartis

Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.