B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys 5,834 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,749 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,834 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Novartis by 5.1% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth approximately $58,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Novartis by 4.9% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 23,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its position in Novartis by 4.7% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 23,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank N.A. grew its position in Novartis by 3.1% during the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 5,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 8.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Novartis from CHF 82 to CHF 84 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.63.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $82.19 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $87.11 and a 200 day moving average of $84.73. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $74.09 and a 52 week high of $94.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a $3.4694 dividend. This is a positive change from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $1.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a yield of 2.6%. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.29%.

Novartis Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Novartis AG is a holding company, which engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz, and Corporate. The Innovative Medicines segment researches, develops, manufactures, distributes and sells patented pharmaceuticals, and is composed of two business units: Novartis Oncology and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.