Gradient Investments LLC Acquires 4,390 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 42.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,661 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,390 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 15.6% during the third quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,926,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 132,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,001,000 after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 439,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,411,000 after acquiring an additional 23,978 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,376,000 after acquiring an additional 117,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,305,000 after acquiring an additional 14,032 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $148.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $312.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $97.71 and a 12-month high of $170.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $155.46 and its 200-day moving average is $139.37.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a $4.773 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and issued a $112.00 target price on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.80.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.