Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Increases Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Novartis AG by 51.9% during the first quarter, bringing its total investment to $745,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have recently adjusted their stakes in Novartis, with Versant Capital Management Inc significantly boosting its position by 856.3%.
• Novartis reported quarterly earnings of $2.42 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, with revenues up 12.3% year-over-year.

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 51.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,682 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,282 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st 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. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 14,376.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company's stock worth $81,079,000 after acquiring an additional 722,272 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Novartis by 5.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at $24,763,000. Finally, Parkwood LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $11,482,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NVS. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $124.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS traded down $0.98 during trading on Monday, hitting $128.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,034,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,909,398. The firm has a market cap of $271.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.21. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $130.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS 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.