AlphaCore Capital LLC Buys 15,235 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 197.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,964 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,235 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Novartis by 489.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 564,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,369,000 after buying an additional 469,080 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.3% during the 2nd 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 period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 52.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 876,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,120,000 after acquiring an additional 303,553 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,297,000. Finally, Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 78.0% in the 3rd quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 606,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,813,000 after acquiring an additional 265,861 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NVS shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

Novartis Trading Down 0.8%

Novartis stock opened at $165.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.12. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $97.71 and a fifty-two week high of $168.02. The stock has a market cap of $349.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $149.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.36.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $4.773 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 312.0%. Novartis’s payout ratio is presently 36.31%.

Novartis Company Profile

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.