Saturna Capital Corp Sells 4,290 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Saturna Capital Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 315,876 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,290 shares during the quarter. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $38,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 60.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,252 shares during the period. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% during the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,407 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 489.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 564,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,369,000 after purchasing an additional 469,080 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Novartis by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Finally, Midwest Trust Co bought a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth $32,297,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS opened at $128.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $127.62 and a 200 day moving average of $121.67. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $134.00. The stock has a market cap of $270.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $13.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. HC Wainwright cut shares of Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Cfra set a $126.00 price objective on shares of Novartis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.33.

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.