WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Novartis AG $NVS

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,314 shares of the company’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 2nd quarter valued at $266,000. Cypress Capital Group boosted its holdings in Novartis by 84.1% during the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 5,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $699,000 after buying an additional 2,638 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Novartis by 16.8% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 47,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,311,000 after buying an additional 6,849 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the second quarter worth $1,909,000. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Novartis by 8.9% during the second quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 33,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,076,000 after buying an additional 2,758 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $118.00 price target (down from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Novartis from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $123.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS opened at $130.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $275.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.64. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $96.06 and a 52-week high of $133.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.37.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.94 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 25.64% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.97 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.45 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.