Novartis AG $NVS Shares Bought by Vise Technologies Inc.

Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 87.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,277 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,913 shares during the quarter. Vise Technologies Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 39.0% during the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 15,950.0% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:NVS opened at $149.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $284.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $112.34 and a 1-year 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $149.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.28.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.