Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Free Report) by 12.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,072 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,716 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $8,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in Novartis by 13,687.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594,726 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Novartis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,860,000 after buying an additional 1,148,033 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,414,000 after buying an additional 895,255 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $108,638,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Novartis by 77.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,648,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,362,000 after acquiring an additional 720,860 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.
Novartis Price Performance
NVS opened at $153.35 on Tuesday. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The firm has a market cap of $292.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.32.
Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Novartis Profile
Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.
The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.
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