Gibbs Wealth Management Buys 10,592 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Gibbs Wealth Management increased its Novartis stake by 331.9% in the first quarter, buying 10,592 additional shares and bringing its total to 13,783 shares worth about $2.1 million.
• Other institutional investors also made large moves in Novartis, including major additions from Auto Owners Insurance, Morgan Stanley, GQG Partners, and WCM Investment Management, with institutions owning 13.12% of the stock.
• Analysts are mixed on Novartis: the stock has a consensus rating of Hold with an average target price of $141.20, while the shares recently traded at $156.32 and were up 2.1%.

Gibbs Wealth Management grew its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 331.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,783 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 10,592 shares during the period. Gibbs Wealth Management's holdings in Novartis were worth $2,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 13,687.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $638,103,000 after acquiring an additional 4,594,726 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth approximately $220,004,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Novartis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,223,860,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,033 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $435,414,000 after purchasing an additional 895,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $108,638,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novartis from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NVS opened at $156.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.11. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $112.34 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $14.95 billion for the quarter. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 23.29%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company's activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.

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