Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. Buys Shares of 4,857 Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,857 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NVS. BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Novartis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an "underweight" rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock traded up $0.60 on Thursday, hitting $112.47. The stock had a trading volume of 1,111,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,588,248. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The business's 50 day moving average is $109.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $237.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. The firm had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS 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.