HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Boosts Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 19.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,109 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Novartis by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,071,000 after buying an additional 1,377,252 shares during the last quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% during the first quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,407 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after purchasing an additional 422,869 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the first quarter worth about $24,763,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 8.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,736,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,181,000 after purchasing an additional 128,302 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.33.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS opened at $123.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $261.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.64. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $133.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $13.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.Novartis’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.06 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.