Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,657 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Novartis were worth $874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 18.3% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in Novartis by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Novartis by 42.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 3,272 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,379,000 after acquiring an additional 4,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NVS. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Novartis in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley began 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. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.33.

Novartis Trading Down 1.1 %

NVS stock opened at $95.79 on Monday. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $108.78. The company has a market cap of $203.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.47.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $11.42 billion for 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 prior year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.17 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This is a boost from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is 34.26%.

About Novartis

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.