Godsey & Gibb Inc. Buys 830 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 196,287 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 830 shares during the quarter. Novartis accounts for about 2.2% of Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $23,753,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Novartis by 5.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 2.2% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,058,000 after buying an additional 47,690 shares during the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 12,664.1% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC increased its position in Novartis by 0.3% during the second quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,262,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,770,000 after acquiring an additional 3,805 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $132.35 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $133.55. The business has a 50 day moving average of $123.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.38. The company has a market capitalization of $279.58 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.Novartis’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.33.

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.