Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 156,100.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,562 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Novartis in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 503.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 320 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 target price (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Up 1.0 %

NVS opened at $104.87 on Thursday. Novartis AG has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $111.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 EPS 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.