Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Diversify Advisory Services LLC

Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 78.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,720 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,080 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after buying an additional 1,389,610 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $202,771,000 after buying an additional 1,250,318 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted 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 worth $184,372,000 after buying an additional 666,104 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth about $64,610,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 40.1% in 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 period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $109.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $224.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.83, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $116.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.35 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. 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 earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.