Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 15.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 231,851 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Novartis worth $196,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Novartis by 23.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after buying an additional 1,389,610 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of 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 worth $202,771,000 after buying an additional 1,250,318 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $64,610,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Novartis by 343.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 657,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,652,000 after buying an additional 509,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 10,528.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 324,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,511,000 after buying an additional 321,121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NVS. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $103.54 on Tuesday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $211.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

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.