Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Downgraded by Bank of America to “Neutral”

Bank of America cut shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Bank of America currently has $130.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $135.00.

NVS has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a neutral rating and issued a $121.00 price target (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Novartis from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a strong sell rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $120.70.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $115.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Novartis has a 12 month low of $92.19 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $113.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.98.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Novartis by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,767 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter valued at about $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 6.5% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,485,000 after acquiring an additional 11,080 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Novartis by 314.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,563,000 after purchasing an additional 41,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,968,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Novartis

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.