Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Grows Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,732 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Novartis by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,746,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,264,000 after acquiring an additional 54,683 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Novartis by 0.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,473,000 after acquiring an additional 16,015 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Novartis by 0.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,523,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,082,000 after acquiring an additional 14,686 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its stake in Novartis by 40.1% during the first quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after acquiring an additional 590,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 53.7% during the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after acquiring an additional 666,104 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS traded up $0.37 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $117.50. 557,411 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,436,127. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.93. The stock has a market cap of $240.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.19 and a 12-month high of $117.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.