Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) is Altrius Capital Management Inc’s 5th Largest Position

Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 78,060 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,339 shares during the quarter. Novartis makes up approximately 2.2% of Altrius Capital Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Altrius Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Novartis were worth $8,310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Novartis by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Novartis by 191.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,318 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 53.7% in the 1st 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. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 40.1% in the 1st 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, Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its position 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 worth $74,661,000 after purchasing an additional 371,590 shares during the period. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NVS. Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.70.

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS opened at $115.99 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $237.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $114.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.28. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.10. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.