Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Sells 157 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lowered its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,851 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating for the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. HSBC downgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $112.11 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $229.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $3.8695 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.69%.

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.