Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 286,590 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,150 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $30,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its holdings in Novartis by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NVS traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $120.89. The company had a trading volume of 902,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,020,458. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $111.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.89. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $247.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.13.

Novartis Company Profile

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.