WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in Novartis AG $NVS

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 72.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,230 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,836 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. South Plains Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVS. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS opened at $148.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $282.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $107.96 and a fifty-two week high of $170.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $150.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.Novartis’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.