Trustmark National Bank Trust Department Has $7.48 Million Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Trustmark National Bank Trust Department decreased its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 65,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,615 shares during the quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Novartis were worth $7,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Novartis by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth about $400,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at approximately $604,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 2,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Novartis by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $103.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.05. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.35 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $210.72 billion, a PE ratio of 11.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

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.