BKM Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

BKM Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 837.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,297 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,732 shares during the quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 3,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 530 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 33,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,338,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Means Investment CO. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 8,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on NVS. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.67.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $106.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.90. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $108.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.77 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.22.

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

About Novartis

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.