Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Up 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) rose 1.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $63.08 and last traded at $62.93. Approximately 1,748,372 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 6,093,533 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Dbs Bank cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective (down from $105.00) on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $135.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.62 and a 200-day moving average of $89.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $279.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.7874 dividend. This is a positive change from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is currently 49.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVO. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,492,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,655,000 after buying an additional 1,165,955 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted 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 worth $1,117,790,000 after buying an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% in the fourth 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 position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,917,000 after buying an additional 40,313 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,312,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $715,084,000 after purchasing an additional 123,681 shares during the period. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.