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

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 266,088 shares of the company's stock after acquiring 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 & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 366.0% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS traded up $0.75 during trading on Thursday, hitting $123.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,667,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,584,292. 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 twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $124.82. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $115.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $261.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BNP Paribas raised 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 issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.67.

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.