CW Advisors LLC Acquires 7,302 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• CW Advisors LLC increased its ownership in Novartis AG by 17.4%, now holding 49,331 shares valued at approximately $5.5 million.
• According to recent ratings, Novartis has a consensus rating of "Hold" from multiple analysts, with an average price target of $123.50.
• Novartis reported $2.42 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and demonstrating a 12.3% year-over-year revenue growth.

CW Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 17.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,331 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,302 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $5,499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% in 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 60.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 2.2% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company's stock valued at $243,058,000 after purchasing an additional 47,690 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 4.6% during the first quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,258,639 shares of the company's stock worth $140,313,000 after acquiring an additional 55,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $109,739,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $126.96. 697,662 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,945,144. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $268.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.62. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $128.03. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $119.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.00.

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 business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The firm's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.