Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Short Interest Update

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) saw a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,040,000 shares, a growth of 26.3% from the February 13th total of 3,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $112.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $229.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $105.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.48. Novartis has a 1-year low of $92.35 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a $3.8695 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. Novartis’s payout ratio is presently 42.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

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.