Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 191.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,250,318 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $202,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Patten Group Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 2.5% in the second quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 16,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $210,000. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in Novartis by 4.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 14,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,535,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Novartis by 42.3% in the second quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 16,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 4,950 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NVS stock traded up $0.59 on Monday, reaching $119.15. 664,270 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,425,535. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $110.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.23. The company has a market capitalization of $243.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $119.29.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on NVS. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.13.

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.