Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its stake in Novartis AG by 6.5% in Q1, owning 592,245 shares valued at approximately $66 million.
• Other institutional investors have also boosted their holdings in Novartis, with notable increases including Wealthcare Advisory Partners and Versant Capital Management, reflecting growing interest in the company.
• Novartis recently reported an EPS of $2.42 for Q2, surpassing estimates and showing a 12.3% year-over-year revenue increase to $14.05 billion.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 592,245 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 35,943 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $66,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 38,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,303,000 after purchasing an additional 3,846 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 856.3% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $837,000 after purchasing an additional 6,722 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $124.33.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE NVS traded down $0.41 on Tuesday, hitting $128.31. The company had a trading volume of 599,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,902,413. The company has a market capitalization of $271.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.63. The company's fifty day moving average price is $121.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $130.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.97 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current 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.