Fulton Bank N.A. Boosts Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,496 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 267 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Connectus Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 317.4% during the 4th quarter. Connectus Wealth LLC now owns 11,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 8,399 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 33,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,430,000 after buying an additional 2,054 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Novartis by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 124,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,597,000 after buying an additional 11,780 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,003,000. Finally, Garner Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $102,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on NVS. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays upgraded 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.70.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $113.76 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $115.49 and its 200-day moving average is $106.81. The stock has a market cap of $232.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

About Novartis

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.