BTC Capital Management Inc. Has $1.91 Million Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

BTC Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,751 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 368 shares during the quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nexus Investment Management ULC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 366.0% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.33.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock opened at $122.84 on Friday. Novartis AG has a one year low of $96.06 and a one year high of $130.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $121.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.63.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.94 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current 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.