Novartis AG $NVS Shares Acquired by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 77.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,953 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,343 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TrueMark Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 14.0% in the first quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the first quarter valued at approximately $864,000. RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 58.7% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $154.91 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.46. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $112.34 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The stock has a market cap of $295.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.28 EPS. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.82 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Novartis Company 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.