QRG Capital Management Inc. Buys 17,731 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 13.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,844 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,731 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $23,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 76.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 102.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 11,444 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at $1,764,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Novartis by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. acquired a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $202,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $159.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $304.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $112.34 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.42.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.86 EPS for the current year.

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.