St. Clair Advisors LLC Takes $690,000 Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

St. Clair Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,092 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $690,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on NVS. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an "underweight" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $112.45. The company had a trading volume of 1,694,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,587,759. The company has a market capitalization of $237.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $109.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.81.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Company 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.