Novartis AG $NVS Position Increased by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 887,296 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 54,682 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $122,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $928,376,000 after acquiring an additional 117,952 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,605,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,658,000 after purchasing an additional 78,390 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,371,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,107,000 after purchasing an additional 168,573 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,302,000 after purchasing an additional 82,369 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 77.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,648,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,362,000 after purchasing an additional 720,860 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on NVS. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE NVS opened at $144.57 on Tuesday. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $104.93 and a 1-year high of $170.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $275.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $154.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.98.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. Novartis’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $4.773 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.