Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 1,257 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVSFree Report) by 1.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 96,313 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $11,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Novartis by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after buying an additional 6,767 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 6.5% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,485,000 after buying an additional 11,080 shares during the period. Integral Health Asset Management LLC grew its position in Novartis by 33.3% during the second quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,938,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth approximately $2,968,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.70.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on NVS

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS traded up $1.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $116.22. The company had a trading volume of 1,095,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,359,491. The company has a market capitalization of $237.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.19. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVSGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.52 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Novartis (NYSE:NVS)

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