Ativo Capital Management LLC Buys 1,625 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

Ativo Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 13.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,725 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares during the quarter. Novartis comprises 1.5% of Ativo Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Ativo Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Novartis by 60.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,660,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,252 shares during the period. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 12,664.1% during the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 1,383,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,204,000 after buying an additional 1,372,407 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,606,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $959,535,000 after buying an additional 422,869 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis during the first quarter valued at about $24,763,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 38.5% during the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 310,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,560,000 after acquiring an additional 86,351 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NVS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.33.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $129.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $125.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $96.06 and a 12 month high of $133.55. The company has a market capitalization of $273.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.64.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 25.64%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Company 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.