Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,509 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Novartis by 0.5% in the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 108,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,499,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Motco lifted its position in Novartis by 12.9% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 5,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $503,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 5.6% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 15,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 2.5% in the first quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 127,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,322,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Novartis by 44.3% in the first quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 187,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,160,000 after acquiring an additional 57,627 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock traded down $1.09 on Friday, reaching $106.13. 1,683,292 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,398,091. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $112.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $105.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.63%. The business had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.13.

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.