Auto Owners Insurance Co Increases Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 13,687.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,594,726 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co’s holdings in Novartis were worth $638,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust increased its holdings in Novartis by 425.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NVS opened at $147.17 on Friday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $112.34 and a fifty-two week high of $170.46. The company has a market capitalization of $280.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $149.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.Novartis’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.82 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Argus raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

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.