Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. Sells 212 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. reduced its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,713 shares of the company’s stock after selling 212 shares during the period. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,767 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Novartis by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,485,000 after purchasing an additional 11,080 shares during the period. Integral Health Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,938,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter worth $2,968,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $109.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.35 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $223.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $115.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.23.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis 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.