Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 850 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC cut its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 23.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,775 shares of the company’s stock after selling 850 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after buying an additional 6,767 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at about $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 6.5% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,485,000 after buying an additional 11,080 shares during the last quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 33.3% during the second quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,938,000 after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the first quarter valued at about $2,968,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.70.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $116.22 on Monday. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company’s 50 day moving average is $115.73 and its 200 day moving average is $107.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $237.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.52 EPS for the current 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.