Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Acquired by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,706 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,768 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,482,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NVS. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Novartis by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after buying an additional 6,767 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,485,000 after buying an additional 11,080 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Novartis by 314.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,563,000 after buying an additional 41,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the 1st quarter worth $2,968,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $115.66 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $236.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on NVS. Bank of America downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

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.