Abundance Wealth Counselors Has $1.53 Million Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Abundance Wealth Counselors grew its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,728 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 887 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors’ holdings in Novartis were worth $1,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,183,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,372,000 after purchasing an additional 90,823 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,668,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,706,000 after purchasing an additional 368,171 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,132,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,522,000 after purchasing an additional 399,862 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,908,000 after purchasing an additional 296,950 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $109,739,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BNP Paribas upgraded 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $115.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $244.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.40. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $96.06 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $13.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.92 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 24.70%. 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 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company 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.