Brookstone Capital Management Purchases 130 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,905 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Alliance raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.5% during the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Novartis by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 153,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,294,000 after acquiring an additional 5,285 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 69,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,324,000 after acquiring an additional 11,355 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,979,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 229.8% in the 2nd quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 13,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 9,509 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE NVS opened at $97.73 on Friday. Novartis AG has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92. 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 firm has a market cap of $199.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $100.97 and its 200-day moving average is $109.12.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.63 earnings per share 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.