First Horizon Corp Purchases New Position in Novartis AG $NVS

First Horizon Corp purchased a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 6,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $855,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Novartis by 489.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 564,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,369,000 after acquiring an additional 469,080 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 5.3% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,121,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $861,762,000 after purchasing an additional 358,282 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Novartis by 52.9% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 876,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,120,000 after buying an additional 303,553 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,297,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 63.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 631,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,374,000 after buying an additional 244,037 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS stock opened at $141.85 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $97.39 and a 12-month high of $143.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $299.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.51.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.06 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $112.00 price target on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Barclays upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Cfra set a $126.00 target price on Novartis and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.