Cardinal Capital Management Buys 3,870 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cardinal Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,719 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,870 shares during the quarter. Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in Novartis by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,162,000 after purchasing an additional 8,116 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Novartis by 314.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,563,000 after buying an additional 41,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 368.3% in the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after buying an additional 15,927 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.67.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock traded down $0.52 during trading on Thursday, hitting $106.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,268,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,475,178. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $217.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a fifty day moving average of $101.70 and a 200-day moving average of $101.09. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $108.78.

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

Novartis Profile

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.