Novartis AG $NVS Shares Bought by Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,790 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,321 shares during the quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 9,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its holdings in Novartis by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 2,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC now owns 10,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co grew its position in Novartis by 2.3% in the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 3,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on NVS shares. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $112.00 price objective on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Novartis from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $160.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $338.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.45 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. The business’s 50 day moving average is $152.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.23. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $97.71 and a 52-week high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.65% and a return on equity of 40.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $4.773 per share. This represents a yield of 312.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.31%.

About Novartis

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.