Blair William & Co. IL cut its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,973 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,720 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $5,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NVO. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company's stock worth $1,117,790,000 after purchasing an additional 5,556,460 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $995,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,771 shares during the last quarter. Folketrygdfondet boosted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% during the 4th 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. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $404,910,000. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance
NYSE:NVO traded down $1.44 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $68.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,209,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,571,259. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $305.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $82.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.17. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $66.88 and a 12-month high of $148.15.
Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 84.68%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.7874 dividend. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.72%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
NVO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $145.25.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Novo Nordisk A/S
About Novo Nordisk A/S
(
Free Report)
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.
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