Eldred Rock Partners LLC Purchases 108 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Eldred Rock Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,651 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the quarter. Novartis accounts for approximately 2.0% of Eldred Rock Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Eldred Rock Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Novartis during the second quarter worth $64,610,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 343.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 657,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,652,000 after buying an additional 509,567 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,063,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,225,000 after buying an additional 231,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,979,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, HSBC cut Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NVS stock opened at $97.51 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.01. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.35 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $199.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company 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.