Somerville Kurt F Invests $1.64 Million in Novartis AG $NVS

Somerville Kurt F bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 10,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,636,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,033 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,465,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,029,317,000 after purchasing an additional 226,484 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Novartis by 9.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,962,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $758,067,000 after buying an additional 413,778 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Novartis by 13,687.0% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,103,000 after buying an additional 4,594,726 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,479,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $617,562,000 after buying an additional 419,988 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NVS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of NVS stock opened at $160.39 on Thursday. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $121.57 and a 1-year high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $306.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $14.95 billion for the quarter. Novartis had a net margin of 23.29% and a return on equity of 38.56%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.