Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Novartis AG by 5.2% during Q1, owning approximately 8.6 million shares valued at nearly $960 million.
• Other institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs and GAMMA Investing LLC, also significantly boosted their positions in Novartis, reflecting strong interest in the stock.
• Novartis reported a 12.3% increase in quarterly revenue to $14.05 billion, with earnings surpassing analyst estimates at $2.42 per share.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 422,869 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.41% of Novartis worth $959,535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Tsfg LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 366.0% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE NVS traded up $1.0040 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $125.0140. 1,028,130 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,979,952. The company's 50-day moving average is $118.79 and its 200-day moving average is $113.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.62. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $125.62.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.50.

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.