Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Acquired by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance lifted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,683 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Novartis were worth $392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Financial & Tax Architects LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 4,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Novartis by 10,528.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 324,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,511,000 after purchasing an additional 321,121 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Novartis by 23.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 19.2% during the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 23,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,540,000 after purchasing an additional 3,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 55,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,953,000 after buying an additional 7,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Novartis Stock Up 0.0 %

Novartis stock opened at $116.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $114.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.36. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $237.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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