Telos Capital Management Inc. Has $2.72 Million Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Telos Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,979 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Novartis by 18.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 3.9% during the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 42.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,000 after buying an additional 3,272 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.5% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,379,000 after buying an additional 4,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 22.8% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $92.96. The company had a trading volume of 711,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,486,161. The company has a market capitalization of $197.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $98.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.12. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.19 and a 1-year high of $108.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $11.42 billion during 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 period last year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $3.7772 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. Novartis’s payout ratio is 33.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVS shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Novartis in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Novartis in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novartis has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.33.

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.