Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 276,369 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 15.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,532,789 shares of the company’s stock after selling 276,369 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $234,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 425.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Down 1.9%

NVS stock opened at $150.45 on Wednesday. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $287.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $151.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NVS shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

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.