BTC Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,608 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,910 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,608 shares during the quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. bought a new position in Novartis in the second quarter valued at approximately $233,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 257.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 6,990 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 4.2% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 66,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 109,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,674,000 after buying an additional 3,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,908,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $104.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.50. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.35 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The company has a market capitalization of $214.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Novartis

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.