Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Buys 20,818 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 111.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,496 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,818 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $6,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,033 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Novartis by 13,687.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594,726 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Novartis by 1.7% in 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 during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,479,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,562,000 after buying an additional 419,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $155.31 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.50. Novartis AG has a one year low of $112.34 and a one year high of $170.46. The firm has a market cap of $296.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.46. 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 (NYSE:NVS) last issued 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 net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Argus upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

About Novartis

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.