Evergreen Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 20.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,090 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,794 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 607 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Arlington Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.9% in the third quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 39,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,082,000 after acquiring an additional 723 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new position in Novartis during the third quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas increased its holdings in Novartis by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 2,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in Novartis by 58.9% in the 3rd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 29,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 10,838 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cfra set a $126.00 target price on Novartis and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America raised Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $144.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Novartis AG has a one year low of $97.45 and a one year high of $146.35. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $305.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.51.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.06 EPS. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

About Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.