Cardinal Capital Management Increases Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cardinal Capital Management boosted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 47,951 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $109,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,339,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 14,376.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,079,000 after purchasing an additional 722,272 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,522,000 after purchasing an additional 399,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,706,000 after purchasing an additional 368,171 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Down 1.1%

NVS stock opened at $118.14 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $249.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $120.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $112.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

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.