Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 11,589 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,128,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Novartis by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 423,142 shares of the company's stock worth $41,176,000 after purchasing an additional 111,066 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 89,074 shares of the company's stock worth $8,668,000 after purchasing an additional 18,894 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth about $239,000. Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Novartis by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 16,395 shares of the company's stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 129.8% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 98,412 shares of the company's stock worth $9,560,000 after purchasing an additional 55,581 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NVS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an "underweight" rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE NVS traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $112.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,111,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,588,248. The stock has a market cap of $237.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $120.92. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $109.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.97.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.