Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Purchases 2,308 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 6.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,835 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,308 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $117.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $249.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $113.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.81. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released 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. Novartis had a net margin of 24.70% and a return on equity of 39.44%. The business had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. Novartis's revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS 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.

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