Brandes Investment Partners LP Buys 10,297 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 224,224 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,297 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Novartis were worth $23,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Founders Financial Securities LLC grew its position in Novartis by 3.4% in the second quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Novartis by 0.9% in the second quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 10,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 5.1% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $115.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $236.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.19 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $114.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.06.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.