Cable Hill Partners LLC Raises Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,276 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 825 shares during the period. Cable Hill Partners LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Novartis by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 261,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 67,661 shares during the last quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 252,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,092,000 after acquiring an additional 22,296 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 3,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 23,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

NVS stock traded up $0.11 on Tuesday, hitting $87.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,139,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,631,592. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $87.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.07. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $79.09 and a 1 year high of $95.17. The stock has a market cap of $196.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 26th. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $12.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.61 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 46.47% and a return on equity of 23.16%. Novartis’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NVS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Monday, February 28th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from CHF 85 to CHF 88 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from CHF 85 to CHF 88 in a research report on Thursday, April 28th. Finally, upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.50.

Novartis Company Profile (Get Rating)

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Innovative Medicines and Sandoz. The Innovative Medicines segment offers prescription medicines for patients and healthcare providers. It also provides ophthalmology, neuroscience, immunology, hepatology, dermatology, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism medicine products.

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