Old Port Advisors Acquires 886 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Old Port Advisors raised its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,030 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the quarter. Old Port Advisors’ holdings in Novartis were worth $1,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Novartis by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $58,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 23,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 1,078 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 23,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 5,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 8.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Novartis from CHF 82 to CHF 84 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Citigroup cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 5th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Novartis in a research note on Thursday. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.63.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS stock opened at $82.19 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $87.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $181.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.52. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $94.26.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a $3.4694 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $1.18. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. Novartis’s payout ratio is 71.61%.

Novartis Profile

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Novartis AG is a holding company, which engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz, and Corporate. The Innovative Medicines segment researches, develops, manufactures, distributes and sells patented pharmaceuticals, and is composed of two business units: Novartis Oncology and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.