Net Worth Advisory Group Invests $822,000 in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $822,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Novartis in the first quarter valued at approximately $256,000. &PARTNERS lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 82.7% during the 1st quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,062,000 after buying an additional 4,943 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its position in Novartis by 3.0% in the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 179,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,408,000 after acquiring an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 13.2% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 15,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the first quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NVS. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.70.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $117.18 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $116.31 and its 200-day moving average is $107.90. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal 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.