Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,203 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 503.8% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $109.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $223.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.35 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $101.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.13.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 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.