Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Holderness Investments Co.

Holderness Investments Co. increased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,828 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the quarter. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,746,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,264,000 after acquiring an additional 54,683 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,473,000 after acquiring an additional 16,015 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,523,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,082,000 after purchasing an additional 14,686 shares during the period. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its position in Novartis by 40.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut 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 report on Wednesday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

Novartis Stock Down 0.0 %

NVS opened at $115.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $236.98 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $114.22 and a 200-day moving average of $105.48. 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 current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal 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.