Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 4,376 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 22.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,095 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,376 shares during the quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Urban Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter valued at $203,000. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new position in Novartis during the 1st quarter worth about $354,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Novartis by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 104,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,908,000 after buying an additional 4,312 shares during the period. Independence Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Independence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 77.4% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after buying an additional 4,343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 1.2%

NVS opened at $154.91 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $148.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.46. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $112.34 and a 1-year high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $295.58 billion, a P/E 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 data 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 revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. Analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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