Boston Mountain Money Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Boston Mountain Money Management Inc. grew its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,198 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Boston Mountain Money Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NVS. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Novartis in the first quarter worth $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 73.5% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the second quarter valued at $29,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Novartis Price Performance

Shares of NVS traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $116.14. 111,799 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,353,195. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $115.73 and a 200-day moving average of $107.35. The stock has a market cap of $237.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.57.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. Analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.