Spinnaker Trust Makes New Investment in Novartis AG $NVS

Spinnaker Trust bought a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its position in Novartis by 19.9% in the second quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 9,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547 shares in the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the second quarter worth $85,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 19.0% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 319,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,712,000 after buying an additional 50,968 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 13.2% in the second quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 49,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,975,000 after buying an additional 5,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 19.0% in the second quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NVS stock opened at $122.71 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $133.55. The stock has a market cap of $259.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $127.44 and a 200-day moving average of $120.03.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by ($0.01). Novartis had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 41.21%. The business had revenue of $13.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. HC Wainwright cut shares of Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Cfra set a $126.00 target price on shares of Novartis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.33.

Novartis 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.