Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 10.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,282 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,126 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $3,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC lifted its holdings in Novartis by 366.0% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NVS opened at $126.49 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $267.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.63. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $130.46. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect 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.