Novartis (NYSE:NVS) Reaches New 1-Year High - Still a Buy?

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $124.83 and last traded at $124.27, with a volume of 545746 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $122.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Novartis Stock Up 0.9%

The company has a market cap of $262.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $115.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.42.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced 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. 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 analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novartis

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company's stock worth $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company's stock worth $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 16.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Novartis by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,180,281 shares of the company's stock worth $243,058,000 after purchasing an additional 47,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% during the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company's stock worth $154,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,407 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.