Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $1.66 Million Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Valley National Advisers Inc. cut its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,145 shares of the company’s stock after selling 304 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Novartis by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 34,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,482,000 after acquiring an additional 4,897 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 3,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth about $261,000. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Novartis by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 38,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NVS stock traded up $0.34 on Wednesday, hitting $106.78. The stock had a trading volume of 516,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,463,664. The business has a 50 day moving average of $102.63 and a 200 day moving average of $101.34. The stock has a market cap of $218.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.19 and a 12-month high of $108.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. As a group, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.13.

About Novartis

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.