Rothschild Investment LLC Has $1.84 Million Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Rothschild Investment LLC lowered its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,533 shares of the company’s stock after selling 149 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC bought a new position in Novartis during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $115.67 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $244.34 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50 day moving average of $110.02 and a 200-day moving average of $106.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis 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.