Capital International Investors Sells 204,594 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Capital International Investors cut its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,754,420 shares of the company’s stock after selling 204,594 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned about 0.15% of Novo Nordisk A/S worth $579,858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of NVO. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,790,000 after buying an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,571,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $995,397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,947,771 shares in the last quarter. Folketrygdfondet increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,917,000 after acquiring an additional 40,313 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,312,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,084,000 after purchasing an additional 123,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,498 shares during the period. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 7.8 %

Shares of NYSE NVO opened at $57.99 on Friday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $57.28 and a 1-year high of $148.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.71. The company has a market cap of $260.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.7874 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVO. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Tuesday. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.00.

About Novo Nordisk A/S

Novo Nordisk A/S, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceutical products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North America, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Diabetes and Obesity Care, and Rare Disease.