Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL Cuts Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL lowered its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,139 shares of the company’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 4,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $195,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Haven Private LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $286,000. Finally, Bradyco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth $700,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock opened at $115.60 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.35 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $104.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. Equities analysts predict 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.