Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. Has $346,000 Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. grew its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 24.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,578 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Private Ocean LLC bought a new position in Novartis in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 480.0% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 348 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NVS stock traded up $0.03 on Tuesday, reaching $106.57. 550,807 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,465,942. The company has a 50-day moving average of $102.22 and a 200-day moving average of $101.22. The company has a market cap of $217.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Novartis AG has a one year low of $92.19 and a one year high of $108.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $11.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. Analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.67.

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.