Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 73.5% in the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 149.3% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 354 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS traded up $1.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $111.86. 202,862 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,462,510. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.57. 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 12-month low of $92.19 and a 12-month high of $113.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $107.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $102.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.