Oxford Wealth Group LLC Invests $658,000 in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Oxford Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $658,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 3,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Novartis by 9.3% in the first quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. increased its stake in Novartis by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 8,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in Novartis by 1.5% in the first quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 7,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Novartis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Novartis from $121.00 to $122.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Novartis has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.13.

Novartis Stock Performance

NVS traded up $1.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $111.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,162,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,474,157. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.10, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.34. Novartis AG has a twelve month low of $92.19 and a twelve month high of $112.48.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $12.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 33.76% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis 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.