Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,730 shares of the company’s stock after selling 725 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 750.0% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 49.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. now owns 299 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, ZRC Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 7.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on NVS. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Novartis Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE NVS traded up $0.85 on Friday, reaching $94.91. 3,196,823 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,620,364. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.77. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $79.98 and a 12 month high of $105.61. The company has a market cap of $201.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.05 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 28.27%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Novartis

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets 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.