American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 65.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 588,361 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 231,914 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $71,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 76.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 19.6% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 6,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Novartis by 0.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,105,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 67.5% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after acquiring an additional 4,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Novartis by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 17,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.33.

Novartis Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $130.44 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $128.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.30. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $134.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $275.54 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.Novartis’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.06 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Novartis

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.