8,432 Shares in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Purchased by Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC bought a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $821,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,953,000. Equitable Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $229,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,291,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Novartis by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 223,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,764,000 after buying an additional 10,290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on NVS shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.38.

Novartis Stock Up 2.4 %

Novartis stock opened at $115.60 on Monday. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.35 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.89.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. On average, analysts predict 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.