Foster Group Inc. Takes Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Foster Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 666,104 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,610,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 590,830 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 0.1 %

NVS stock opened at $113.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.68. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $232.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.