Bailard Inc. Has $435,000 Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 19.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,087 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 661 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,746,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,264,000 after purchasing an additional 54,683 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,473,000 after buying an additional 16,015 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,523,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,082,000 after buying an additional 14,686 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its position in shares of Novartis by 40.1% during the first quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,819,000 after acquiring an additional 590,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 53.7% during the first quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,372,000 after acquiring an additional 666,104 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Stock Up 0.5 %

Novartis stock opened at $119.15 on Tuesday. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $119.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.36.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.44 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on NVS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays raised shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.13.

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.