Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 26,317 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 938,844 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,317 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $107,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Novartis by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 536,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,767 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,044,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,485,000 after acquiring an additional 11,080 shares during the period. Integral Health Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 33.3% in the second quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,938,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $854,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $103.06 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $113.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.84. The company has a market capitalization of $210.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. 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 (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. Research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

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.