Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. Raises Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 24.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,578 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 709 shares during the quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 34,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,482,000 after buying an additional 4,897 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the third quarter worth $509,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 92.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 5,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 2,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth $261,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of Novartis stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $106.57. 550,807 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,465,942. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $217.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.19 and a 52-week high of $108.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.22.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $11.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 32.15% and a net margin of 31.33%. Sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.67.

Novartis 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.