Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Invests $64.61 Million in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 606,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,610,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Novartis by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after buying an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Novartis by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,746,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,264,000 after purchasing an additional 54,683 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Novartis by 0.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,473,000 after purchasing an additional 16,015 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Novartis by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,523,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,082,000 after purchasing an additional 14,686 shares during the period. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its position in shares of Novartis by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,819,000 after purchasing an additional 590,830 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $115.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.48. The company has a market cap of $236.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.5 EPS for the current 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.