Novartis AG $NVS Holdings Raised by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,617 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,220 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 76.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Novartis by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 38,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,303,000 after buying an additional 3,846 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in Novartis by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Novartis by 856.3% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $837,000 after buying an additional 6,722 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NVS stock opened at $127.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $130.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $269.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.63.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on NVS. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

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.