Advisory Resource Group Trims Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Advisory Resource Group decreased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,408 shares of the company’s stock after selling 964 shares during the period. Advisory Resource Group’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after purchasing an additional 231,851 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,669,000 after purchasing an additional 70,314 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 2.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,986,000 after purchasing an additional 26,317 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Novartis by 18.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 780,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,289,000 after purchasing an additional 123,077 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Novartis by 128.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 528,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,554,000 after purchasing an additional 296,890 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. HSBC downgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS opened at $106.17 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.39. The firm has a market cap of $217.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.35 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. Equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal 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.