Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an underweight rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. HSBC cut Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NVS opened at $106.98 on Wednesday. Novartis has a 1-year low of $92.35 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $100.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Novartis by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 89,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,668,000 after purchasing an additional 18,894 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Novartis by 115.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 231,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,797,000 after acquiring an additional 124,111 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 30,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,001,000 after acquiring an additional 5,164 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in Novartis by 135.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 39,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,598,000 after purchasing an additional 22,998 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at $239,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Company 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.