Trust Point Inc. Purchases New Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Trust Point Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 5,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Novartis by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,183,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $796,372,000 after buying an additional 90,823 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $259,706,000 after buying an additional 368,171 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 399,862 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company's stock valued at $194,908,000 after buying an additional 296,950 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $109,739,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BNP Paribas raised 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 given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NVS stock traded down $0.44 on Wednesday, reaching $115.97. 1,004,533 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,579,408. The company has a market cap of $244.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $112.42 and a 200-day moving average of $107.27. 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 AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $12.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share 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.