West Family Investments Inc. Buys 1,927 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,739 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,927 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 149.3% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Down 0.7 %

NVS stock opened at $102.31 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $112.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

About Novartis

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.