Brandes Investment Partners LP Buys 10,297 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 224,224 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,297 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Novartis were worth $23,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 23.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,407,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Novartis by 191.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,904,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,318 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 53.7% in 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at approximately $64,610,000. Finally, 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 purchasing an additional 590,830 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $115.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap of $236.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.06.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted 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. 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.70.

Novartis 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.