5,621 Shares in Novartis AG $NVS Purchased by Jackson Square Capital LLC

Key Points

• Jackson Square Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis AG, purchasing 5,621 shares valued at approximately $680,000.
• Institutional investors currently own 13.12% of Novartis, with several hedge funds significantly increasing their stakes, including Brighton Jones LLC and Two Sigma Investments LP.
• Analyst ratings have varied for Novartis, with Morgan Stanley upgrading the stock to an “equal weight” rating, while Goldman Sachs reiterated a “sell” rating with a target price of $118.00.

Jackson Square Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $680,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company's stock valued at $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the period. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 12,664.1% during the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company's stock valued at $154,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,407 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 14,376.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,079,000 after purchasing an additional 722,272 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $24,763,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4%

NVS stock traded up $0.55 on Friday, hitting $122.84. 1,284,721 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,058,087. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $130.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $121.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $259.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.63.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.97 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NVS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "sell" rating and set a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $120.33.

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.