Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. HSBC downgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $106.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $100.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.39. Novartis has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $218.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $88,339,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,908,000 after acquiring an additional 296,950 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Novartis by 128.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 528,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,554,000 after acquiring an additional 296,890 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth $30,063,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.