Providence Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,533 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 416 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 191.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after buying an additional 1,250,318 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 53.7% in the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after buying an additional 666,104 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $64,610,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after buying an additional 590,830 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock opened at $116.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $237.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, 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 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $114.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.62.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share 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.