V Square Quantitative Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,395 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $848,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Novartis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 480.0% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 348 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordwand Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company's stock.

Novartis Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Novartis stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $105.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,565,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,162,880. The company has a market cap of $216.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm's 50-day moving average is $99.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.61. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $92.19 and a 52-week high of $108.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.07. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. The business had revenue of $11.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.50 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $116.67.

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.