Wambolt & Associates LLC grew its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,315 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 738 shares during the quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC's holdings in Novartis were worth $1,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NVS. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Novartis by 4.7% during the first quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,871,033 shares of the company's stock worth $953,933,000 after buying an additional 486,367 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,677,403 shares of the company's stock valued at $409,194,000 after purchasing an additional 292,854 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,205,694 shares of the company's stock valued at $367,871,000 after purchasing an additional 89,226 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,870,136 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,235 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,727,570 shares of the company's stock valued at $326,051,000 after purchasing an additional 420,333 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. Wolfe Research lowered Novartis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Novartis from CHF 80 to CHF 75 in a research report on Wednesday, June 29th. Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on Novartis from CHF 85 to CHF 88 in a research report on Thursday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Novartis from CHF 90 to CHF 94 in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Novartis from CHF 85 to CHF 88 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $87.33.

Novartis Price Performance

Novartis (NYSE:NVS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 18th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $12.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.78 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 21.88% and a net margin of 44.31%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 6.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Novartis Profile

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Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Innovative Medicines and Sandoz. The Innovative Medicines segment offers prescription medicines for patients and healthcare providers. It also provides ophthalmology, neuroscience, immunology, hepatology, dermatology, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism medicine products.

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