587 Shares in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Purchased by Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 73.5% in the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 149.3% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE NVS traded up $1.80 on Wednesday, hitting $111.86. 202,862 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,462,510. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $107.39 and a 200 day moving average of $102.46. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $113.00. The company has a market capitalization of $228.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.13.

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.