Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Sells 31,302 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 26.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 85,187 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,302 shares during the quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $9,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,183,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,372,000 after buying an additional 90,823 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 16.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,908,000 after purchasing an additional 296,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 4.6% during the first quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,258,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,313,000 after purchasing an additional 55,316 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Novartis Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $120.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $254.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $121.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $113.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.94.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.70% and a return on equity of 39.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis 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.