Wedmont Private Capital Purchases 153 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,501 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Novartis were worth $699,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new position in Novartis during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $118.01 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $110.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.70. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $96.06 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $249.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

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.