Delaney Dennis R Sells 7,080 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Delaney Dennis R lessened its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 22.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,775 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,080 shares during the quarter. Delaney Dennis R’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,746,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,264,000 after acquiring an additional 54,683 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,523,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,082,000 after acquiring an additional 14,686 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,442,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,599,000 after acquiring an additional 33,791 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in Novartis by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 931,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,014,000 after buying an additional 3,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 845,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,737,000 after buying an additional 29,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.13.

Novartis Trading Up 0.5 %

NVS stock traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $110.51. The company had a trading volume of 1,997,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,465,404. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $111.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $104.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.80. The stock has a market cap of $225.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $11.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 32.15% and a net margin of 31.33%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.28 earnings per share 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.