Quadrant Capital Group LLC Sells 7,545 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Quadrant Capital Group LLC decreased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 11.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,432 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,545 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GFG Capital LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the second quarter valued at $26,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Novartis by 66.0% during the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $130.44 on Thursday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $134.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $128.00 and a 200 day moving average of $122.30. The stock has a market cap of $275.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The company had revenue of $14.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NVS. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, October 27th. Cfra set a $126.00 price objective on Novartis and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.