First National Bank of Omaha Takes Position in Novartis AG $NVS

First National Bank of Omaha acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 51,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,148,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 439,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,411,000 after buying an additional 23,978 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,376,000 after purchasing an additional 117,952 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 537,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,935,000 after purchasing an additional 82,226 shares in the last quarter. BXM Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 726.9% in the 4th quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 42,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,903,000 after purchasing an additional 37,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Novartis by 2,561.0% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 38,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,375,000 after purchasing an additional 37,518 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Argus raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $153.03 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $112.34 and a 1 year high of $170.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $148.06. The company has a market cap of $292.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company 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.