Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Novartis (NYSE:NVS)

Stock analysts at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novartis (NYSE:NVS) in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “underweight” rating on the stock.

NVS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $107.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $219.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $100.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novartis will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,706,000 after acquiring an additional 368,171 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,908,000 after acquiring an additional 296,950 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 5.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,669,000 after buying an additional 70,314 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,161,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,990,000 after buying an additional 52,044 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 2.9% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,986,000 after buying an additional 26,317 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.