Hantz Financial Services Inc. Raises Position in Novartis AG $NVS

Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 37.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,470 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,490 shares during the quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $7,786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 439,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,411,000 after purchasing an additional 23,978 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 132,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,001,000 after purchasing an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,239,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,376,000 after purchasing an additional 117,952 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 537,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,935,000 after buying an additional 82,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BXM Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 726.9% during the 4th quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 42,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,903,000 after buying an additional 37,639 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $152.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $149.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.19. The stock has a market cap of $290.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $111.06 and a 1-year high of $170.46.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novartis to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Novartis from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Argus upgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.20.

Novartis Profile

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.