Dearborn Partners LLC Invests $5.38 Million in Novartis AG $NVS

Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 35,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,378,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in Novartis by 13,687.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter worth $220,004,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,148,033 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,158,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,414,000 after purchasing an additional 895,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $108,638,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Down 0.5%

Novartis stock opened at $158.00 on Tuesday. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $121.57 and a 1-year high of $170.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $154.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $301.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.45.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.56% and a net margin of 23.29%.The company had revenue of $14.95 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Company 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.