Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $466,000 Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 21.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,055 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 294,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,836,000 after acquiring an additional 42,642 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in Novartis by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 15,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Novartis by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 157,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,088,000 after acquiring an additional 18,990 shares during the period. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its stake in Novartis by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 10,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $104.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $213.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $111.87 and its 200-day moving average is $110.20.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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.