apricus wealth LLC Has $2.60 Million Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

apricus wealth LLC raised its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,308 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,495 shares during the quarter. apricus wealth LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $117.99 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $249.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $111.14 and its 200-day moving average is $106.86.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.16. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 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.