Foster & Motley Inc. Acquires 4,358 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Foster & Motley Inc. grew its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 85.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,448 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,358 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,539,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,650,000 after acquiring an additional 51,391 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novartis by 50.4% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,803,000 after buying an additional 686,847 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 167.6% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,125,000 after buying an additional 1,144,307 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,221,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,431,000 after acquiring an additional 36,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 863,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,993,000 after acquiring an additional 85,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Novartis Price Performance

NVS stock opened at $97.29 on Wednesday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.99. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $92.19 and a 12-month high of $108.78. The firm has a market cap of $198.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 EPS 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 return on equity of 29.90% and a net margin of 29.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.51 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $3.7772 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. This is a positive change from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.84%.

Novartis Company 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.