Vident Advisory LLC Increases Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Novartis AG by 29.7% during the first quarter, holding 32,868 shares valued at approximately $3.66 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs Group and Dimensional Fund Advisors, also boosted their positions in Novartis, with Goldman Sachs increasing its stake by 60.3%.
• Novartis reported quarterly earnings of $2.42 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, and had a revenue of $14.05 billion, marking a 12.3% increase year-over-year.

Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 29.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,868 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,531 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $3,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 366.0% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novartis from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $123.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.50.

Novartis Stock Up 0.3%

Novartis stock traded up $0.44 on Thursday, hitting $128.67. 1,034,031 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,915,857. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $120.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.78. The firm has a market cap of $271.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $129.21.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.97 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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.