Forte Capital LLC ADV Sells 202 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Forte Capital LLC ADV lessened its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,778 shares of the company’s stock after selling 202 shares during the quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Novartis were worth $205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Novartis by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,767 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the second quarter worth about $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Novartis by 6.5% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,485,000 after buying an additional 11,080 shares during the last quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 33.3% in the second quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,938,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $854,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $107.08 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.55. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.35 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.56 EPS for the current year.

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.