Foster & Motley Inc. Has $2.18 Million Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 17.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,938 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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 worth $788,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,610 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Novartis by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,568,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,473,000 after buying an additional 16,015 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in Novartis by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,065,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,819,000 after acquiring an additional 590,830 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC boosted its position in Novartis by 53.7% during the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 1,906,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,372,000 after acquiring an additional 666,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 191.1% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on NVS shares. Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $121.00 price target (up from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $106.81 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $218.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $115.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.55. Novartis AG has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current 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.