Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Arlington Partners LLC

Arlington Partners LLC grew its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 31.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,882 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,730 shares during the period. Novartis comprises 1.8% of Arlington Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Arlington Partners LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $4,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Up 2.0%

NYSE NVS traded up $2.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $120.36. 1,638,373 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,582,332. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $113.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.81. The stock has a market cap of $254.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $121.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.70% and a return on equity of 39.44%. The firm's revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.