Global Retirement Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,864 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 394 shares during the quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter worth $534,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth $230,000. IAM Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 3.4% during the first quarter. IAM Advisory LLC now owns 13,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.3% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,241,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Novartis Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $117.18 on Monday. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $116.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 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 (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal 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.