D Orazio & Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,687 shares of the company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 128.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 528,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,554,000 after purchasing an additional 296,890 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,063,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,706,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,225,000 after acquiring an additional 231,851 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at $24,096,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Novartis during the 3rd quarter worth $21,078,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS opened at $106.17 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $100.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.41. The company has a market cap of $217.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. On average, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current year.

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.