Citigroup Inc. Acquires 42,642 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 17.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 294,178 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 42,642 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $33,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the second quarter worth $28,000. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 503.8% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:NVS opened at $103.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.22. Novartis AG has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap of $211.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company Profile

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.