Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $10.43 Million Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in Novartis AG by 5.5% during the first quarter, leading to ownership of 93,554 shares valued at approximately $10.43 million.
• Other institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs and Dimensional Fund Advisors, significantly increased their holdings in Novartis, indicating strong interest in the stock.
• Novartis reported earnings of $2.42 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and reflecting a 12.3% year-over-year revenue growth.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 93,554 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,447 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $10,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company's stock worth $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $109,739,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 14,376.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company's stock worth $81,079,000 after purchasing an additional 722,272 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock worth $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company's stock worth $207,522,000 after purchasing an additional 399,862 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $126.96. The company had a trading volume of 697,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,946,406. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $128.03. 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 company has a market cap of $268.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.09.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current 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.