Ritholtz Wealth Management Boosts Stock Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,146 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,312 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Novartis were worth $15,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 13,687.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,103,000 after buying an additional 4,594,726 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,860,000 after buying an additional 1,148,033 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,414,000 after buying an additional 895,255 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $108,638,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Novartis by 77.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,648,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,362,000 after acquiring an additional 720,860 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $153.28 on Thursday. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $112.34 and a 1-year high of $170.46. The stock has a market cap of $292.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.30. 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 the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company 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.