Rhumbline Advisers Raises Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 11.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,600 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,846 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Novartis were worth $4,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in Novartis in the first quarter worth $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 366.0% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $124.12 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $121.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.84. The company has a market cap of $262.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $130.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on NVS. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.33.

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.