Hutchinson Financial Advisors INC Makes New Investment in Novartis AG $NVS

Hutchinson Financial Advisors INC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,140,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NVS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Novartis by 76.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 14.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 112,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,328,000 after purchasing an additional 14,057 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Novartis by 0.5% during the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 43,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,864,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Novartis by 6.9% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 5,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.4% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 14,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,665,000 after buying an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Performance

Novartis stock opened at $123.92 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.13. The company has a market cap of $261.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $96.06 and a fifty-two week high of $133.55.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $13.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.70 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 26.49%.The business’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NVS. Morgan Stanley raised Novartis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, September 12th. HC Wainwright downgraded Novartis to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.33.

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.