Cambiar Investors LLC Reduces Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cambiar Investors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 42.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 125,609 shares of the company’s stock after selling 91,047 shares during the quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $14,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 1,029.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 4,333 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the first quarter worth $207,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Novartis by 7.9% during the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 6,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 10,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $109.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $223.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.12. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.35 and a 12 month high of $120.92. 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 (NYSE:NVS) last released 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. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.