Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by Raymond James Trust N.A.

Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 6.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,384 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Novartis by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,473,000 after acquiring an additional 16,015 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 191.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,318 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its position in Novartis by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,112,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,436,000 after acquiring an additional 267,490 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,986,000 after purchasing an additional 26,317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NVS. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $104.28 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $111.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.12. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.35 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $213.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. 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 (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis 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.