Xponance Inc. Buys 125 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,725 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 165,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,099,000 after buying an additional 8,186 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $225,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 151.5% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 4,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 0.3%

NVS opened at $114.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.59. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $96.06 and a 12 month high of $124.83. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.09%. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Novartis 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.