CW Advisors LLC Purchases 26,009 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

CW Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 52.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 75,340 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,009 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $9,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 76.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter worth about $257,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 281.2% in the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 852 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 46.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Novartis by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377,252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $132.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $134.24. The company has a market cap of $279.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $129.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.18.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results 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 business 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.06 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NVS shares. Cfra set a $126.00 price objective on shares of Novartis and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cfra Research upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America upgraded Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, HC Wainwright downgraded Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.33.

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.