Aspen Investment Management Inc Invests $523,000 in Novartis AG $NVS

Aspen Investment Management Inc purchased a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NVS. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 77.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,648,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,362,000 after acquiring an additional 720,860 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in Novartis during the third quarter worth $64,563,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Novartis by 85.0% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,045,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,035,000 after buying an additional 480,201 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Novartis by 3,309.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 301,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,656,000 after buying an additional 292,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. increased its position in Novartis by 78.0% during the third quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 606,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,813,000 after buying an additional 265,861 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Down 0.0%

NVS stock opened at $150.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $111.06 and a 52-week high of $170.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $150.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $287.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on NVS. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.