Ballentine Partners LLC Acquires 824 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,234 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 824 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 15.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after acquiring an additional 231,851 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,669,000 after buying an additional 70,314 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 2.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,986,000 after buying an additional 26,317 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Novartis by 18.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 780,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,289,000 after buying an additional 123,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in Novartis by 4.1% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 344,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,676,000 after buying an additional 13,486 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $99.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $100.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.94. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $203.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NVS shares. HSBC lowered Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

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.