Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Narwhal Capital Management

Narwhal Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,967 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the quarter. Narwhal Capital Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Private Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 73.5% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in Novartis in the second quarter worth about $28,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $116.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.51.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.38.

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.