Ignite Planners LLC Has $511,000 Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Ignite Planners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 16.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,326 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,015 shares during the quarter. Ignite Planners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $511,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 99.0% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 746,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,661,000 after buying an additional 371,590 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Novartis by 1,936.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 387,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,158,000 after purchasing an additional 368,778 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new position in Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,003,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Novartis by 6,599.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 149,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,084,000 after purchasing an additional 147,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 447,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,591,000 after purchasing an additional 146,327 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Trading Up 1.7 %

Novartis stock opened at $106.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $218.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. Novartis AG has a one year low of $92.19 and a one year high of $108.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $101.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.97.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.67.

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.