Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,981 shares of the company’s stock after selling 280 shares during the period. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 15.7% during the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings in Novartis by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,669,000 after purchasing an additional 70,314 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 2.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,986,000 after purchasing an additional 26,317 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 18.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Novartis by 4.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 344,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,676,000 after purchasing an additional 13,486 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Down 1.5 %

Novartis stock opened at $101.85 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $208.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $100.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, HSBC downgraded 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 and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

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.