Adero Partners LLC Raises Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Adero Partners LLC grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 41.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,620 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,053 shares during the quarter. Adero Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Down 1.2%

NVS stock opened at $119.34 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $252.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $111.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.12. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

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.