Orion Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 423,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,176,000 after acquiring an additional 111,066 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 89,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,668,000 after acquiring an additional 18,894 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 63.5% in the fourth quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 16,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 6,369 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 129.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 98,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,560,000 after purchasing an additional 55,581 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Up 0.5%

NVS stock opened at $112.80 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $238.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $120.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $109.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.