Brokerages Set Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Target Price at $121.50

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $121.50.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 2,272.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $343,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $265,000. Rockland Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $244,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4,905.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 8,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $938,000 after buying an additional 8,634 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4 %

Novartis stock opened at $97.11 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $198.49 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.56. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $106.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.00.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Novartis will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current 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.