Dorsey Wright & Associates Buys New Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 20,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,371,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.4% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 32,423 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the third quarter valued at about $30,063,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis in the third quarter valued at about $3,510,000. Hendershot Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 6.4% in the third quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 3,331 shares of the company's stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 15.6% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,630 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lowered shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $121.00 target price (up previously from $119.00) on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $121.50.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis stock traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $101.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 802,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,176,721. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $109.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $208.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.56.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.62 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 34.80% and a net margin of 35.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.65 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.