TIAA Trust National Association Grows Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

TIAA Trust National Association grew its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 26.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,852 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,666 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Novartis were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in Novartis by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974 shares during the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,162,000 after purchasing an additional 8,116 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Novartis by 314.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,563,000 after purchasing an additional 41,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter worth $2,968,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $106.13. 1,683,292 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,398,091. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $112.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.21.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.63% and a net margin of 33.76%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.

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.