Ethos Financial Group LLC Invests $387,000 in Novartis AG $NVS

Ethos Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 3,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $387,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. GFG Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 66.0% in the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV lifted its position in Novartis by 172.2% during the first quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $126.43 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $133.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $267.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $127.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.66.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 41.21%. The firm had revenue of $13.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.06 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NVS shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Cfra set a $126.00 price target on shares of Novartis and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. HC Wainwright lowered Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.33.

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.