GAMMA Investing LLC Has $81.08 Million Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 14,376.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 727,296 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 722,272 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $81,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Novartis by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 423,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,176,000 after buying an additional 111,066 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at about $239,000. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 63.5% during the fourth quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 16,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,369 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 129.8% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 98,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,560,000 after purchasing an additional 55,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 77,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,569,000 after purchasing an additional 3,345 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS opened at $115.67 on Monday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $96.06 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $244.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $110.02 and a 200-day moving average of $106.12.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.16. Novartis had a return on equity of 37.24% and a net margin of 23.56%. The firm had revenue of $13.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “underweight” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Novartis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.38.

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.