Atria Investments Inc Purchases 6,793 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,286 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,793 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the second quarter worth about $266,000. Cypress Capital Group raised its stake in Novartis by 84.1% during the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 5,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 2,638 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Novartis by 16.8% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 47,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,311,000 after acquiring an additional 6,849 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the second quarter worth about $1,909,000. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 8.9% during the second quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 33,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,076,000 after acquiring an additional 2,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $123.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $261.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $133.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $13.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 41.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.06 EPS. Research analysts anticipate 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.