American Century Companies Inc. Grows Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 492,244 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 827 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $52,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth approximately $296,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 11.4% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 402,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,807,000 after purchasing an additional 41,046 shares during the last quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 9.2% in the second quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 20,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth approximately $212,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Novartis by 2.0% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $116.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $113.76 and a 200 day moving average of $105.11. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Novartis Company 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.