Voya Investment Management LLC Acquires 490 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 39,260 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 490 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Novartis by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,058,000 after acquiring an additional 47,690 shares during the period. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its position in Novartis by 12,664.1% in the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,258,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,313,000 after buying an additional 55,316 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $122.84 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $130.46. The firm has a market cap of $259.49 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $121.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.19.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 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 return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on NVS. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.33.

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.