Boston Financial Mangement LLC Has $883,000 Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,072 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 89,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,668,000 after acquiring an additional 18,894 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Novartis by 115.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 231,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,797,000 after acquiring an additional 124,111 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 30,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,001,000 after acquiring an additional 5,164 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 135.5% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 39,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,598,000 after buying an additional 22,998 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NVS. StockNews.com raised Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $107.26 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.15. 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 $219.23 billion, a PE ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 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.