Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Takes $215,000 Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Novartis by 23.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,626,000 after buying an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 191.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,771,000 after buying an additional 1,250,318 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at $64,610,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Novartis by 343.5% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 657,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,652,000 after buying an additional 509,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Novartis by 10,528.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 324,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,511,000 after buying an additional 321,121 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $105.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.23. The firm has a market cap of $216.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

About Novartis

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.