Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Increases Stock Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 52.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 876,956 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 303,553 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $106,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 5.3% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,121,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,762,000 after acquiring an additional 358,282 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in Novartis by 1.4% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,581,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,427,000 after purchasing an additional 78,483 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 47,690 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. Cfra set a $126.00 price objective on shares of Novartis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.75.

Novartis Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE NVS opened at $132.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.88. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $134.24. The firm has a market cap of $279.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.52.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The business had revenue of $14.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.06 earnings per share. Novartis’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Novartis

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.