Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Purchased by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,363 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,227 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after purchasing an additional 231,851 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 5.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,669,000 after purchasing an additional 70,314 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 2.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,986,000 after buying an additional 26,317 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Novartis by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 780,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,289,000 after purchasing an additional 123,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Novartis by 128.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 528,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,554,000 after buying an additional 296,890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on NVS shares. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $109.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $224.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $100.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.79% and a net margin of 23.56%. Analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.34 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.