Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 266,088 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,864 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $29,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company's stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $225,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $97,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 165,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,099,000 after acquiring an additional 8,186 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $9,365,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $122.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,192,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,583,959. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $259.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $115.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.42. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $124.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.70% and a return on equity of 39.44%. Novartis's revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.80 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.67.

Novartis Company 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.