Whipplewood Advisors LLC Invests $146,000 in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $146,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 424,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,322,000 after buying an additional 32,398 shares in the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 12,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,254,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 22,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,152,000 after buying an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mengis Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 80,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,796,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $108.91 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $102.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.08. The company has a market cap of $222.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.52, a P/E/G 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 AG has a 1 year low of $92.35 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.