Archford Capital Strategies LLC Raises Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Archford Capital Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 77.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,672 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,319 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Novartis by 1.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $928,376,000 after buying an additional 117,952 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,605,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,658,000 after purchasing an additional 78,390 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,371,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,107,000 after purchasing an additional 168,573 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,302,000 after purchasing an additional 82,369 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in Novartis by 77.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,648,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,362,000 after purchasing an additional 720,860 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. DZ Bank cut shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NVS stock opened at $152.74 on Wednesday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $97.71 and a fifty-two week high of $170.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $156.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $4.773 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 306.0%. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.02%.

Novartis 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.