Ballentine Partners LLC Has $2.86 Million Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 33.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,625 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,391 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $2,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 165,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,099,000 after buying an additional 8,186 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,362 shares of the company's stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 27,642 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,690,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE NVS traded down $1.23 on Wednesday, hitting $118.44. 2,502,341 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,592,736. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $116.35 and a 200-day moving average of $110.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $124.83. The stock has a market cap of $250.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.59.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. Novartis had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 24.70%. The firm had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share 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.