Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC

Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC trimmed its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 19.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,355 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 60.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after buying an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,372,407 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,535,000 after acquiring an additional 422,869 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at $24,763,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 310,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,560,000 after acquiring an additional 86,351 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Novartis Trading Down 0.8%

Novartis stock opened at $130.05 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $125.14 and a 200-day moving average of $117.91. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $133.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $274.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. Novartis’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.