Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 15.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 700,858 shares of the company’s stock after selling 130,112 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $89,878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $255,000. Chilton Investment Co. Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 128.8% during the third quarter. Chilton Investment Co. Inc. now owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 2,897 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,605,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,658,000 after buying an additional 78,390 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Novartis by 2.9% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 74,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,500,000 after buying an additional 2,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its position in Novartis by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 423,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,350,000 after acquiring an additional 25,560 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVS. Bank of America raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $112.00 price target on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.80.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $153.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $324.18 billion, a PE ratio of 21.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.49. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $97.71 and a 1 year high of $170.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $154.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. Novartis’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.98 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $4.773 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 43.30%.

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.