Enterprise Financial Services Corp Buys 160 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Enterprise Financial Services Corp increased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,016 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp’s holdings in Novartis were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novartis by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,002,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,908,000 after purchasing an additional 296,950 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,353,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,669,000 after acquiring an additional 70,314 shares in the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,161,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,990,000 after acquiring an additional 52,044 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 2.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,986,000 after acquiring an additional 26,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,339,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NVS. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. HSBC downgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $115.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.95. The company has a market cap of $236.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.04.

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 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share 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.