Novartis AG $NVS Shares Purchased by Logan Capital Management Inc.

Logan Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 11.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 46,660 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,701 shares during the period. Logan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 76.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 29.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $727,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 11,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 1st quarter worth about $216,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NVS. 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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. HC Wainwright lowered Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $129.12 on Tuesday. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $96.06 and a 12-month high of $133.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $272.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $127.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.78.

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.