Investment Research Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Novartis AG $NVS

Investment Research Partners LLC bought a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $745,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Novartis by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 537,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,935,000 after purchasing an additional 82,226 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Novartis by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 495,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,580,000 after purchasing an additional 18,447 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,563,000. Finally, Ariadne Wealth Management LP raised its holdings in Novartis by 5.2% in the third quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP now owns 5,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NVS. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Bank of America upgraded Novartis from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $112.00 target price on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.80.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $149.73 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $155.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.87. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $97.71 and a 52-week high of $170.46. The company has a market cap of $316.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $4.773 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a yield of 306.0%. Novartis’s payout ratio is currently 43.02%.

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.