AlphaCentric Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 15,719 Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 15,719 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,530,000. Novartis comprises about 1.5% of AlphaCentric Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Keystone Financial Services boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 7,374 shares of the company's stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,806 shares of the company's stock valued at $857,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 16,395 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 6,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,591,000. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVS traded up $0.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $107.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,885,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,942,435. The company has a 50-day moving average of $101.06 and a 200-day moving average of $108.15. Novartis AG has a 12 month low of $92.35 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $219.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 8.45 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.