CORDA Investment Management LLC. raised its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 187,092 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,166 shares during the quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $16,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 79,327 shares of the company's stock worth $6,939,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novartis by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 124,792 shares of the company's stock worth $10,918,000 after purchasing an additional 6,536 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 54,346 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,754,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in Novartis by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 8,600 shares of the company's stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Novartis by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 56,040 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,902,000 after buying an additional 3,634 shares during the period. 9.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Novartis from CHF 80 to CHF 75 in a research report on Wednesday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Novartis from CHF 90 to CHF 94 in a report on Friday, May 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Novartis from CHF 85 to CHF 88 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Novartis from CHF 80 to CHF 81 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Novartis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $87.33.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 18th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.04. Novartis had a net margin of 44.31% and a return on equity of 21.88%. The company had revenue of $12.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Novartis AG will post 6.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

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Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Innovative Medicines and Sandoz. The Innovative Medicines segment offers prescription medicines for patients and healthcare providers. It also provides ophthalmology, neuroscience, immunology, hepatology, dermatology, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism medicine products.

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