Empower Advisory Group LLC Acquires New Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC has purchased 2,306 shares of Novartis AG valued at approximately $257,000 in the first quarter.
• Analyst ratings for Novartis include a recent upgrade to "strong-buy" by BNP Paribas, while the average rating remains at "Hold" with a target price of $123.67.
• Novartis reported a 12.3% increase in revenue year-over-year, with $2.42 EPS exceeding analysts' expectations by $0.04.

Empower Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the first quarter worth $215,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 38.5% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 720 shares of the company's stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.7% during the first quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 431,838 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,141,000 after purchasing an additional 7,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 20.0% during the first quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 980 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on NVS. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.50.

Novartis Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:NVS traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $116.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,585,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,143,527. The firm has a market capitalization of $246.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.62. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $118.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.37. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $124.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.97 earnings per share. Novartis's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share 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.