Novartis AG $NVS Shares Bought by Choreo LLC

Choreo LLC grew its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 18.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,571 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,493 shares during the quarter. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 358,282 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,581,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $675,427,000 after buying an additional 78,483 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,302,000 after buying an additional 82,369 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Novartis by 0.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,597,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,552,000 after acquiring an additional 12,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 3.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 927,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,214,000 after acquiring an additional 30,950 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 1.9%

NVS opened at $168.61 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $149.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $97.71 and a 12 month high of $170.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $356.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.50.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.98 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on NVS. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and set a $112.00 target price on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

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.