Brighton Jones LLC Raises Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 76.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,153 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 15.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after purchasing an additional 231,851 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,669,000 after buying an additional 70,314 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,986,000 after buying an additional 26,317 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 780,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,289,000 after acquiring an additional 123,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in Novartis by 4.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 344,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,676,000 after acquiring an additional 13,486 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NVS shares. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC lowered Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE NVS opened at $99.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $204.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.35 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.09 and a 200-day moving average of $108.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

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.