Fifth Third Bancorp Has $5.44 Million Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 14.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,611 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,622 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Novartis by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after buying an additional 1,148,033 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,465,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,029,317,000 after acquiring an additional 226,484 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Novartis by 13,687.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,103,000 after acquiring an additional 4,594,726 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,605,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,658,000 after acquiring an additional 78,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Novartis by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,479,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $617,562,000 after purchasing an additional 419,988 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock opened at $153.78 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $151.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.61. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $112.34 and a 52-week high of $170.46. The company has a market capitalization of $293.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. Novartis’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Profile

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.