Novartis AG $NVS Position Boosted by Vise Technologies Inc.

Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 87.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,277 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,913 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $5,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the third quarter worth about $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 39.0% during the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 15,950.0% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 321 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NVS shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. DZ Bank cut shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $149.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $149.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.28. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $112.34 and a 52-week high of $170.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $284.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current year.

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.