Ewa LLC Buys 161 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Ewa LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,371 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Ewa LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $266,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 47,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,311,000 after purchasing an additional 6,849 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,909,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 33,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,710,000 after purchasing an additional 3,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. 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 report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $131.52 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $123.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $131.96. The company has a market cap of $277.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. Novartis’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal 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.