Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Purchased by Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,361 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 742 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Novartis by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Novartis by 191.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 53.7% in the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,372,000 after purchasing an additional 666,104 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $64,610,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its stake in Novartis by 40.1% during the first quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after buying an additional 590,830 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Up 0.9 %

NVS opened at $109.35 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.23. The firm has a market cap of $223.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.56 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.