Somerville Kurt F Makes New Investment in Novartis AG $NVS

Somerville Kurt F bought a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 10,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,636,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,876,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148,033 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 226,484 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Novartis by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,962,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $758,067,000 after purchasing an additional 413,778 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Novartis by 13,687.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 4,628,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 10.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NVS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock opened at $160.39 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.05 billion, a PE ratio of 24.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $121.57 and a 1 year high of $170.46.

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