First Hawaiian Bank Cuts Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

First Hawaiian Bank lessened its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 20.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,081 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,762 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,556,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,587,000 after purchasing an additional 240,710 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its holdings in Novartis by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 42.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,379,000 after purchasing an additional 4,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NVS stock opened at $101.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $215.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $101.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.82. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $74.09 and a fifty-two week high of $105.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $13.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 million. Novartis had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 25.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 6.92 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. HSBC started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

Novartis Profile

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Innovative Medicines and Sandoz. The Innovative Medicines segment offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It also provides cardiovascular, ophthalmology, neuroscience, immunology, hematology, and solid tumor products.