GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. Sells 4,405 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. trimmed its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 129,063 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,405 shares during the quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $17,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in 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. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $64,563,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 85.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,045,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,035,000 after acquiring an additional 480,201 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 3,309.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 301,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,656,000 after acquiring an additional 292,595 shares during the period. Finally, Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 78.0% during the 3rd quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 606,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,813,000 after acquiring an additional 265,861 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on NVS shares. DZ Bank downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $145.64 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.98. The company has a market capitalization of $277.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.46. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $112.34 and a 1 year high of $170.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.28 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Company 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.