Centaurus Financial Inc. Has $659,000 Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,728 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $659,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 503.8% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $103.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $211.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50 day moving average is $111.60 and its 200-day moving average is $110.22. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.35 and a 12-month high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.66 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.