Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. increased its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 24.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,739 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,927 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 18.2% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 121,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,006,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter valued at $533,000. Adero Partners LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 45.2% in the 3rd quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the third quarter valued at approximately $317,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Down 0.7 %

NVS stock opened at $102.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $112.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.63 EPS 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.