Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Invests $230,000 in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 34,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,482,000 after purchasing an additional 4,897 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,418,000 after buying an additional 1,130 shares during the period. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth $509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.67.

Novartis Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $107.12 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.05. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.19 and a 12-month high of $108.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $11.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. Research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company Profile

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.