Davidson Trust Co. Has $794,000 Stock Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Davidson Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,864 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NVS. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 18.3% in the first 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 last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.9% in the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 42.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $965,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.5% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,379,000 after purchasing an additional 4,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 22.8% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novartis Stock Up 1.5 %

NVS traded up $1.35 during trading on Friday, reaching $93.92. 946,062 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,478,100. 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 50 day moving average price is $98.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.03. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $108.78. The stock has a market cap of $199.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a return on equity of 29.90% and a net margin of 29.83%. The company had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a 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 payout ratio is 33.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

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.