Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 171,290 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Primecap Management Co. CA lowered its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,008,055 shares of the company's stock after selling 171,290 shares during the quarter. Novartis comprises 1.0% of Primecap Management Co. CA's holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 0.59% of Novartis worth $1,381,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Novartis by 28.8% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,492 shares of the company's stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter valued at about $400,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter valued at about $604,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 18.6% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,268,000 after buying an additional 2,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 10.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,919 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,410,000 after buying an additional 2,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on NVS. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America cut Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $103.09 on Thursday. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $210.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. The stock's fifty day moving average is $112.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.05.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

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.

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