Apexium Financial LP Buys New Shares in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Apexium Financial LP has initiated a new stake in Novartis AG, acquiring 2,144 shares valued at approximately $239,000 during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in Novartis, including Brighton Jones LLC, which boosted its holding by 76.5% in the last quarter.
• Novartis reported earnings per share of $2.42 for the recent quarter, exceeding expectations, along with a revenue growth of 12.3% year-over-year.

Apexium Financial LP bought a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $208,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 24,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,345,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 161.3% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 48,987 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,767,000 after buying an additional 30,240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $126.9410 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $119.37 and a 200-day moving average of $113.78. The firm has a market cap of $268.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.62. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $96.06 and a 1-year high of $128.03.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.50.

Novartis 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.