Spire Wealth Management Has $293,000 Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Spire Wealth Management reduced its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 23.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,753 shares of the company’s stock after selling 831 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Novartis by 6.0% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 286,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,510,000 after buying an additional 16,150 shares during the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 114,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,160,000 after acquiring an additional 1,960 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its position in Novartis by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 33,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 7,147 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFG Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $246,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4 %

NVS opened at $120.89 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $111.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $247.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NVS. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.13.

Novartis Company 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.