Aspiriant LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Aspiriant LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,807 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Novartis by 23.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,626,000 after buying an additional 1,389,610 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,473,000 after purchasing an additional 16,015 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its holdings in Novartis by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after purchasing an additional 590,830 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 53.7% during the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,372,000 after purchasing an additional 666,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Novartis by 191.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.70.

Novartis Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NVS stock opened at $117.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $239.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion for 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 previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis 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.