Novartis AG $NVS Shares Purchased by Abundance Wealth Counselors

Key Points

• Abundance Wealth Counselors increased its position in Novartis AG by 23.0%, now holding 16,886 shares valued at approximately $2,043,000.
• Institutional investors own 13.12% of Novartis AG's stock, with significant increases from several hedge funds in recent quarters.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Novartis, with the average consensus being a "Hold" and a price target of $120.33.

Abundance Wealth Counselors increased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 23.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,886 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,158 shares during the quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors' holdings in Novartis were worth $2,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Novartis by 5.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock worth $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company's stock worth $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 2.2% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company's stock worth $243,058,000 after purchasing an additional 47,690 shares during the period. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 12,664.1% during the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company's stock worth $154,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,407 shares during the period. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 0.3% during the second quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,262,444 shares of the company's stock worth $152,770,000 after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note 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 target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $130.94 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $123.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.04. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $131.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $276.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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.

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