Mather Group LLC. Purchases 1,712 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 22.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,475 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,712 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Novartis during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Novartis during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 480.0% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. increased its stake in Novartis by 69.1% in the 3rd quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 389 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novartis in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company.

Novartis Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Novartis stock opened at $97.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $198.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $97.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.98. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $108.78.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.69 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.79%.

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.