Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Cut to Reduce at HSBC

HSBC downgraded shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a hold rating to a reduce rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:NVS opened at $101.98 on Wednesday. Novartis has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $109.69 and a 200 day moving average of $110.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $208.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.56.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth $279,000. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Novartis by 42.6% during the second quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 2,792 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth $15,044,000. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its holdings in Novartis by 6.7% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 15,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,655,000 after buying an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA purchased a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth $420,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.