Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Geneos Wealth Management Inc.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 78.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,790 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,634 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Novartis by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,183,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,372,000 after purchasing an additional 90,823 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,706,000 after acquiring an additional 368,171 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,522,000 after acquiring an additional 399,862 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.6% during the first quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 1,258,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,313,000 after acquiring an additional 55,316 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $109,739,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS stock opened at $117.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.40. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $124.83. The stock has a market cap of $247.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

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.