Caprock Group LLC Has $3.50 Million Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 96.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,889 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,153 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 15.0% in the second quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,102 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 119.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 29,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,192,000 after buying an additional 16,335 shares during the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 4,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Chris Bulman Inc acquired a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $116.65 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $112.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.57. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 33.76%. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 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.