China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 16,000 Shares of Novartis AG $NVS

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 80.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $4,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Novartis during the third quarter worth $31,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the third quarter worth $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 39.0% during the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Country Trust Bank lifted its stake in Novartis by 47.4% during the third quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 342 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NVS shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. DZ Bank cut Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Novartis Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NVS opened at $147.50 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $104.93 and a 52 week high of $170.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $281.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $156.20 and a 200-day moving average of $143.30.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. Novartis had a return on equity of 40.53% and a net margin of 25.65%.The company had revenue of $13.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.98 EPS. Novartis’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a $4.773 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 306.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.02%.

About Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and related health-care products. Formed through the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis operates globally and focuses on bringing therapeutics from discovery through clinical development to commercial markets worldwide.

The company’s activities center on innovative pharmaceuticals across several therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and ophthalmology, alongside capabilities in advanced therapies such as biologics, cell and gene therapies.