Portside Wealth Group LLC Increases Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,185 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NVS. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Novartis by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 49,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,975,000 after purchasing an additional 5,742 shares during the last quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Cypress Capital Group raised its position in shares of Novartis by 84.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 5,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 2,638 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Novartis by 16.8% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 47,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,311,000 after acquiring an additional 6,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the second quarter worth approximately $1,909,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on NVS. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, October 31st. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 target price (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.33.

Novartis Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $128.01 on Wednesday. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $134.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $270.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.49, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.60.

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