Northern Trust Corp Purchases 47,690 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Novartis AG by 2.2%, acquiring 47,690 shares and raising its total to 2,180,281 shares, valued at approximately $243 million.
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has significantly boosted its position in Novartis by 60.3%, now holding 3,660,485 shares, valued at $408 million, following a similar trend among institutional investors.
• Novartis reported quarterly earnings of $2.42 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and achieving a 12.3% year-over-year revenue increase to $14.05 billion.

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,180,281 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 47,690 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.10% of Novartis worth $243,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Tsfg LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 366.0% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the first quarter valued at $33,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock traded up $0.1210 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $126.9410. 1,339,349 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,553,184. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $119.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.73. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $96.06 and a 12 month high of $128.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $268.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NVS. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.50.

About Novartis

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.