Davis R M Inc. Purchases 250 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Davis R M Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,349 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its position in Novartis by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 173,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,547,000 after purchasing an additional 57,736 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Novartis by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 216,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,840,000 after purchasing an additional 13,006 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 587,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,326,000 after buying an additional 129,578 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter worth $356,000. Finally, Balentine LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 27,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,801,000 after buying an additional 2,699 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE NVS traded down $0.30 on Thursday, reaching $101.66. The company had a trading volume of 156,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,496,171. The firm has a market cap of $207.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.53. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $108.78. The business has a 50 day moving average of $97.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $11.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.50 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 32.15% and a net margin of 31.33%. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $3.7772 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 32.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th.

About Novartis

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.