King Luther Capital Management Corp Purchases 456 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,523 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Novartis by 23.1% in the second 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. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Novartis by 0.6% in the first 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 0.6% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in Novartis by 40.1% during the first 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $115.94 on Monday. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.19 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The company 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target 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 issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

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.