BTC Capital Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

BTC Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,113 shares of the company’s stock after selling 143 shares during the quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter worth $26,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 750.0% during the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Syverson Strege & Co bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter worth $34,000. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. HSBC initiated coverage on Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.00.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $102.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.05. Novartis AG has a one year low of $74.09 and a one year high of $105.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $101.71 and its 200-day moving average is $98.14.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $13.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 million. Novartis had a return on equity of 25.12% and a net margin of 14.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 6.92 EPS for the current year.

About Novartis

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Innovative Medicines and Sandoz. The Innovative Medicines segment offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It also provides cardiovascular, ophthalmology, neuroscience, immunology, hematology, and solid tumor products.