Opal Capital LLC Takes Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Opal Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,376,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Novartis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148,033 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,465,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,029,317,000 after purchasing an additional 226,484 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,605,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,658,000 after purchasing an additional 78,390 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,479,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,562,000 after purchasing an additional 419,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 39.6% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,414,000 after purchasing an additional 895,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Argus raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $150.91 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $149.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.51. The company has a market cap of $287.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85. Novartis AG has a one year low of $112.34 and a one year high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its 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). The company had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.82 EPS for the current year.

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.