Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 7,914 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,557 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,914 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $24,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. boosted its position in Novartis by 3.6% during the second quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 4,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 107.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 58,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,904,000 after purchasing an additional 30,301 shares in the last quarter. Alterna Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $243,000. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department grew its stake in Novartis by 7.8% during the second quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 69,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,988,000 after purchasing an additional 4,987 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 208,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,004,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares in the last quarter. 7.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on NVS shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4 %

Novartis stock opened at $95.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $97.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.64. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $79.98 and a 1-year high of $105.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $11.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.05 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 28.27% and a net margin of 15.35%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company Profile

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.