Aspen Investment Management Inc Buys Shares of 3,790 Novartis AG $NVS

Aspen Investment Management Inc bought a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 39.0% during the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $150.42 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $150.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $111.06 and a 12-month high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $287.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.28 earnings per share. Novartis’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 12th. DZ Bank cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

About Novartis

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.