Meridian Wealth Management LLC Buys 106 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,161 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,908,000 after purchasing an additional 296,950 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 128.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 528,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,554,000 after purchasing an additional 296,890 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,063,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $225,000. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at $19,795,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $111.85 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.35 and a 12 month high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. Equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

About Novartis

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.