Xponance Inc. Buys New Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Xponance Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Novartis by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,250,318 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 53.7% during the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after acquiring an additional 666,104 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,610,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,819,000 after purchasing an additional 590,830 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $114.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $233.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company’s fifty day moving average is $115.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.36.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.