Pathstone Holdings LLC Sells 32,123 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Pathstone Holdings LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 23.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 103,150 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,123 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $11,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth $28,000. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in Novartis in the second quarter worth $29,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 149.3% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 354 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on NVS. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up previously 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 reduced their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $103.09 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.63 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.