Capital Wealth Planning LLC Raises Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 25.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,024 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,088 shares during the quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Private Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in Novartis by 480.0% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 348 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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.com, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS traded up $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $111.70. 1,612,862 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,225,080. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $112.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $104.41 and a 200 day moving average of $101.91.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.07. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. The firm had revenue of $11.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.50 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.28 earnings per share 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.