Abundance Wealth Counselors Has $1.37 Million Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Abundance Wealth Counselors boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,870 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the quarter. Novartis comprises about 0.6% of Abundance Wealth Counselors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Abundance Wealth Counselors’ holdings in Novartis were worth $1,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Novartis by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $15,044,000. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,162,000 after purchasing an additional 8,116 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 180,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,485,000 after purchasing an additional 11,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Novartis by 314.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,563,000 after buying an additional 41,815 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NVS. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.13.

Novartis Trading Down 0.2 %

Novartis stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $113.33. The stock had a trading volume of 779,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,449,864. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.19 and a 12 month high of $113.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.44 EPS for the current year.

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.