Novartis AG $NVS Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

by · The Cerbat Gem

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Free Report) by 4.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,059,319 shares of the company’s stock after selling 180,107 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $520,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. increased its position in Novartis by 15.6% during the third quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,926,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 132,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,001,000 after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares during the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.8% in the third quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 439,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,411,000 after acquiring an additional 23,978 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $928,376,000 after acquiring an additional 117,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 27.7% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,305,000 after acquiring an additional 14,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Argus raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.80.

View Our Latest Research Report on NVS

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $155.80 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $329.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.92. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $97.71 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $4.773 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.31%.

Novartis Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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