WCG Wealth Advisors LLC Has $5.20 Million Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 128.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,705 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,202 shares during the period. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,465,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,029,317,000 after buying an additional 226,484 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.7% in the 3rd 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. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 7.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,371,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,107,000 after buying an additional 168,573 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 4.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,819,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,302,000 after buying an additional 82,369 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 77.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NVS shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Argus raised 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $148.39 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $112.34 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $149.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $283.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.84 earnings per share 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.