AdvisorShares Investments LLC Invests $1.19 Million in Novartis AG $NVS

AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 7,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,193,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Novartis by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Novartis by 102.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,516,000 after buying an additional 11,444 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the first quarter valued at $1,764,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 48.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 2,581 shares during the period. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. acquired a new position in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NVS. Argus raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $159.82 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.42. 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 AG has a one year low of $112.34 and a one year high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $304.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.