Ameriprise Financial Inc. Grows Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Novartis AG by 10.3% in Q1, now holding 387,094 shares valued at approximately $43.26 million.
• Novartis reported $2.42 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $2.38, and noted a 12.3% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings on Novartis, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target of $123.50.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 10.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 387,094 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 36,131 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $43,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $126.41. The stock had a trading volume of 761,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,290,617. The stock's 50 day moving average is $120.36 and its 200 day moving average is $114.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $267.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.40, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.63. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $128.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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