Scharf Investments LLC Purchases 55,316 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Scharf Investments LLC raised its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,258,639 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 55,316 shares during the period. Novartis comprises about 4.3% of Scharf Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Scharf Investments LLC owned 0.06% of Novartis worth $140,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS stock traded up $1.39 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $118.91. 1,040,233 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,581,506. The stock's 50-day moving average is $113.40 and its 200-day moving average is $107.74. The stock has a market cap of $251.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. 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 current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 24.70%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, research 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.