Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Crestwood Advisors Group LLC

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,309 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Novartis by 128.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 528,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,554,000 after buying an additional 296,890 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the third quarter valued at about $30,063,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,225,000 after buying an additional 231,851 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,795,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Novartis during the third quarter valued at about $21,078,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:NVS opened at $107.95 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.08. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $220.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. On average, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.