Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 113,260 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 145.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,317 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 113,260 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $22,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,492 shares of the company's stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at about $400,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novartis in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $604,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,104 shares of the company's stock worth $1,268,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,919 shares of the company's stock worth $2,410,000 after acquiring an additional 2,431 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on NVS shares. 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 report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $121.00 target price (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:NVS traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $103.32. 364,631 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,337,671. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.05.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.66 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.