Rossby Financial LCC Makes New $288,000 Investment in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,565 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $109,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $88,339,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 14,376.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,079,000 after acquiring an additional 722,272 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company's stock valued at $207,522,000 after purchasing an additional 399,862 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Novartis by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company's stock worth $259,706,000 after purchasing an additional 368,171 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE NVS opened at $123.83 on Thursday. 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 has a market cap of $261.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.58. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $124.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.80 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.67.

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.

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