Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Has $1.22 Million Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 47.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,769 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 2.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,539,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,650,000 after acquiring an additional 51,391 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,803,000 after purchasing an additional 686,847 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 167.6% in the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144,307 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,442,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,599,000 after purchasing an additional 33,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,221,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,431,000 after buying an additional 36,269 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company.

Novartis Stock Up 0.8 %

Novartis stock opened at $101.06 on Friday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $108.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day moving average is $97.09 and its 200-day moving average is $99.07.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This is an increase from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis’s payout ratio is currently 32.79%.

Novartis Company 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.