Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 915 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 14.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,447 shares of the company’s stock after selling 915 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 129.8% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 98,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,560,000 after purchasing an additional 55,581 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Novartis by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 327,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,880,000 after purchasing an additional 16,901 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its holdings in Novartis by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 5,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 11,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,538 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $119.34 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $111.84 and a 200-day moving average of $107.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. 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 AG has a twelve month low of $96.06 and a twelve month high of $120.92.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

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.