Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Buys New Shares in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in Novartis by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,162,000 after buying an additional 8,116 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Novartis by 314.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 55,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,563,000 after buying an additional 41,815 shares during the period. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 368.3% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after buying an additional 15,927 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.67.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock opened at $105.16 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $108.78. The company has a market cap of $214.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.19, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $100.88 and a 200 day moving average of $100.84. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.07. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. The company had revenue of $11.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.50 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Company Profile

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.