Novartis AG $NVS Shares Purchased by CHICAGO TRUST Co NA

Key Points

• CHICAGO TRUST Co NA increased its stake in Novartis AG by 57.6% in Q2, acquiring an additional 2,877 shares, bringing its total holdings to worth $952,000.
• Goldman Sachs and other institutional investors have significantly boosted their holdings in Novartis, with Goldman Sachs increasing its stake by 60.3% and other firms showing percentage boosts in excess of 12,000%.
• Analysts have varying views on Novartis, with one maintaining a "Strong Buy" rating while the average consensus rating is a "Hold" with a price target of $120.33.

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 57.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,871 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,877 shares during the quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA's holdings in Novartis were worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 12,664.1% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company's stock worth $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 14,376.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company's stock worth $81,079,000 after buying an additional 722,272 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 worth $959,535,000 after acquiring an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the first quarter worth approximately $24,763,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NVS. Wall Street Zen lowered 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 target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Down 0.5%

Novartis stock opened at $122.80 on Wednesday. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $130.46. 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 stock has a market cap of $259.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.63. The company's 50-day moving average price is $121.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.34.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS 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.

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