Clarius Group LLC Purchases 1,612 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Clarius Group LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 25.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,931 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,610,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 343.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 657,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,652,000 after purchasing an additional 509,567 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Novartis in the third quarter worth $30,063,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,225,000 after buying an additional 231,851 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at about $22,979,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE NVS opened at $97.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $199.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.99.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC lowered Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.