Abel Hall LLC Makes New Investment in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Abel Hall LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 480.0% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 348 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordwand Advisors LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.67.

Novartis Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:NVS traded down $0.30 on Friday, reaching $105.72. 2,565,119 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,162,880. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $99.84 and its 200-day moving average is $100.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $108.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $11.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Novartis

Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of 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.