Novartis AG $NVS Position Lifted by Brandes Investment Partners LP

Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 262,797 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,922 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Novartis were worth $36,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Portfolio Design Labs LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in Novartis by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 1,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Beddow Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $681,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 107.4% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 1,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 607,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,790,000 after buying an additional 56,213 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on NVS. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Up 1.9%

NVS stock opened at $149.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $112.34 and a 1-year high of $170.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $149.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.67. The firm has a market cap of $284.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.83 EPS for the current year.

About Novartis

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.