WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Novartis AG $NVS

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 72.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Todd Asset Management LLC grew 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 valued at $56,411,000 after buying an additional 23,978 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,926,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew 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 valued at $17,001,000 after buying an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew 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 valued at $928,376,000 after buying an additional 117,952 shares during the period. Finally, BXM Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 726.9% during the 4th quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 42,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,903,000 after buying an additional 37,639 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $148.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $150.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $107.96 and a twelve month high of $170.46. The stock 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 (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.44 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 38.82% and a net margin of 24.87%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novartis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. DZ Bank cut shares of Novartis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.20.

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.