EP Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.26 Million Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,793 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,311 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $114.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $115.17 and a 200-day moving average of $106.30. 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 52-week low of $92.19 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $234.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57.

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