RD Lewis Holdings Inc. Takes $816,000 Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

RD Lewis Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 7,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 151.5% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 4,267 shares in the last quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA boosted its stake in Novartis by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 14,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Novartis by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 118,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,571,000 after purchasing an additional 11,395 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 12,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Novartis by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 14,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Novartis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Novartis Price Performance

NYSE:NVS opened at $112.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $229.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $105.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.54. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $92.35 and a 1-year high of $120.92.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 37.24%. Equities research analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Novartis Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $3.8695 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.69%.

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.