Avior Wealth Management LLC Has $551,000 Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Avior Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 56.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,946 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,313 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes 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 bought a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:NVS traded up $1.79 during trading on Monday, reaching $117.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,149,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,583,548. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm's fifty day moving average is $113.06 and its 200 day moving average is $107.55. The stock has a market cap of $248.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Novartis had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 24.70%. The company had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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.