North Star Asset Management Inc. Invests $965,000 in Novartis AG $NVS

North Star Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $965,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Novartis by 552.0% during the 2nd quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Atlatl Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Archer Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 93.0% in the first quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. CrossGen Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust grew its position in Novartis by 425.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 231 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.20.

Novartis Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NVS opened at $153.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.19, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.45. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $121.57 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $14.95 billion during the quarter. Novartis had a net margin of 23.29% and a return on equity of 38.56%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 8.85 EPS 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.