Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Has $15.37 Million Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,974 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,879 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $15,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Integral Health Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 33.3% during the second quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,938,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Novartis by 115.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 231,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,797,000 after acquiring an additional 124,111 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Novartis by 343.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 657,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,652,000 after acquiring an additional 509,567 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 135.5% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 39,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,598,000 after acquiring an additional 22,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 30,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,001,000 after purchasing an additional 5,164 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. HSBC downgraded Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America lowered Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $100.24 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $101.92 and a 200-day moving average of $109.38. The company has a market cap of $204.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.35 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.12. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%. The business had revenue of $12.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

About Novartis

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.