Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 37.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,889 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,911 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 366.0% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.67.

Novartis Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:NVS opened at $117.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.59. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $96.06 and a 1-year high of $124.83.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly 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. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current 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.