Harrell Investment Partners LLC Takes Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Harrell Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis AG, purchasing 6,279 shares valued at approximately $760,000 in the second quarter.
• Novartis reported earnings of $2.42 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.38, with revenue reaching $14.05 billion.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Novartis, with New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC skyrocketing their stake by 12,664.1% in the first quarter.

Harrell Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% in the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company's stock valued at $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $81,079,000 after buying an additional 722,272 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 422,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the first quarter valued at $24,763,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 0.1%

NVS stock opened at $122.95 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $121.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.38. The stock has a market cap of $259.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.63. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $130.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. Novartis's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on NVS. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $120.33.

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.

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