Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Shares Bought by First American Trust FSB

First American Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,289 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 361 shares during the quarter. First American Trust FSB’s holdings in Novartis were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novartis by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,556,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,587,000 after purchasing an additional 240,710 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in Novartis by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 42.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 3,272 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Novartis by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,379,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in Novartis by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NVS. HSBC downgraded Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Novartis in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NVS traded down $1.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $93.19. 400,236 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,475,546. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.54. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $108.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.18.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.69 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 29.90% and a net margin of 29.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 7.17 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $3.7772 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.26%.

Novartis Company Profile

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. It 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.