West Oak Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

West Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,958 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 350 shares during the quarter. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 102,209.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,522,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $410,241,000 after acquiring an additional 4,517,637 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 167.6% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144,307 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Novartis by 103.0% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,992,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,847,000 after buying an additional 1,010,806 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,803,000 after buying an additional 686,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 27.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,781,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,085,000 after buying an additional 594,194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.8 %

Novartis stock traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $96.60. The stock had a trading volume of 339,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,430,510. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $102.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.54. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $89.81 and a 12-month high of $108.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $11.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.69 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 29.90% and a net margin of 29.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $3.7772 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.1%. This is an increase from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, December 6th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. HSBC lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Novartis in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.33.

About Novartis

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. It 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.