Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Purchases 10,279 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 54.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,320 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,279 shares during the quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,042,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 15.6% during the third quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,926,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 5.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 132,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,001,000 after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 439,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,411,000 after acquiring an additional 23,978 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,376,000 after acquiring an additional 117,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Novartis by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,305,000 after purchasing an additional 14,032 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE:NVS opened at $152.74 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.12. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $97.71 and a fifty-two week high of $170.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.49.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. Novartis’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $4.773 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on NVS. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, DZ Bank cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.