Cetera Investment Advisers Boosts Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,656 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Novartis were worth $11,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Private Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter worth about $29,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.70.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $113.95 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $115.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.61. 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 capitalization of $232.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.19 and a 12 month high of $120.92.

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