Callan Capital LLC Takes Position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Callan Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 9.2% in the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP lifted its stake in Novartis by 5.6% in the third quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 2,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 0.8% in the third quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 44,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its stake in Novartis by 32.8% in the third quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 5,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291 shares during the period. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the third quarter worth $242,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on NVS. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Novartis from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.00.

Novartis Stock Down 1.6 %

Novartis stock traded down $1.62 on Friday, hitting $97.44. 1,562,845 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,561,829. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $92.19 and a 1 year high of $108.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.99. The firm has a market cap of $199.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.11). Novartis had a net margin of 31.33% and a return on equity of 32.15%. The company had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 7.22 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. 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 is an increase from Novartis’s previous annual dividend of $3.47. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. Novartis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.79%.

About Novartis

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.