Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Has $733,000 Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,262 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Novartis by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,488,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,609,000 after purchasing an additional 377,693 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 102,209.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,522,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $410,241,000 after buying an additional 4,517,637 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,399,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,031,000 after buying an additional 193,519 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 0.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,131,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,577,000 after buying an additional 35,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 27.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,781,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,085,000 after buying an additional 594,194 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Performance

NYSE NVS opened at $93.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $197.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.54. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $108.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $11.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.69 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 29.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $3.7772 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 33.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NVS. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

Novartis 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.