Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Has $1.82 Million Stock Holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,057 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,489 shares during the quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Novartis were worth $1,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 480.0% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Novartis in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Novartis by 69.1% in the third quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on NVS. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price objective on the stock.

Novartis Stock Up 0.0 %

NVS opened at $97.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50-day moving average is $97.69 and its 200 day moving average is $98.98. Novartis AG has a fifty-two week low of $92.19 and a fifty-two week high of $108.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. The firm had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This is a positive change from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.79%.

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.