SG Americas Securities LLC Takes $537,000 Position in Novartis AG $NVS

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. CrossGen Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE NVS opened at $156.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.82. The company has a market capitalization of $299.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.45. 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 AG has a 12 month low of $112.34 and a 12 month high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.Novartis’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.28 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.77 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Seven equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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.