Fiera Capital Corp Acquires 30,433 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 32.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,367 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 30,433 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $17,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Novartis by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 592,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,709,000 after purchasing an additional 55,109 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. now owns 710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Palladiem LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $301,000. Syon Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 4,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $638,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 214.0% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Trading Down 1.7%

NVS stock opened at $146.65 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $112.34 and a 52-week high of $170.46. The firm has a market cap of $279.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

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.