Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Trims Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA decreased its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,891 shares of the company’s stock after selling 605 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Novartis were worth $713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 15.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,225,000 after buying an additional 231,851 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,669,000 after acquiring an additional 70,314 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,986,000 after acquiring an additional 26,317 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 780,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,289,000 after purchasing an additional 123,077 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings 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 valued at $51,554,000 after purchasing an additional 296,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Down 0.8 %

NVS stock opened at $106.17 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $100.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.42 EPS 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.