Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Buys 671 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 34,527 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the third quarter valued at about $270,000. Strategic Blueprint LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the third quarter valued at approximately $207,000. HM Payson & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 3,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Novartis by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 242,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,907,000 after acquiring an additional 26,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Novartis by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 26,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,007,000 after purchasing an additional 4,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:NVS opened at $109.06 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.35 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $102.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.04. The stock has a market cap of $222.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 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.