Advisors Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,350 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,733 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Essex Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Novartis by 1.9% during the second quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 4,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $558,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 24,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,978,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NVS. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, October 31st. HC Wainwright downgraded Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $131.16 on Friday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $134.00. The company has a market capitalization of $277.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $127.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $13.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 41.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.06 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.