Ieq Capital LLC Decreases Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Ieq Capital LLC trimmed its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,873 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,375 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 128.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 528,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,554,000 after purchasing an additional 296,890 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the third quarter worth about $30,063,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after acquiring an additional 231,851 shares during the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,795,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $21,078,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $109.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.09. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.35 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. As a group, analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis 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.