Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC Sells 5,258 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 109,084 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,258 shares during the quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $12,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the first quarter valued at $279,000. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 82.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 25,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after acquiring an additional 11,395 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 24.8% during the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 34,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,671,000 after acquiring an additional 6,862 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Novartis by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 10,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 61,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,555,000 after buying an additional 6,855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, HSBC cut Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $104.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.35 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.31. The company has a market cap of $213.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.56.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.