Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Raises Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 153,055 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,285 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Novartis were worth $16,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 73.5% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Novartis Trading Up 0.0 %

NVS opened at $116.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $237.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.19 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.36.

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

Novartis 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.