Novartis AG $NVS Shares Bought by Altman Advisors Inc.

Altman Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Altman Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after buying an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,372,407 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 489.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 564,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,369,000 after acquiring an additional 469,080 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Finally, Midwest Trust Co acquired a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth about $32,297,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $126.43 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $127.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.80. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $133.55. The firm has a market cap of $267.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 target price (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cfra Research upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.33.

Novartis Company 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.