MML Investors Services LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 274,230 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,983 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $23,589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. 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 worth $1,117,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,556,460 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised 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 worth $995,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,771 shares during the last quarter. Folketrygdfondet raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company's stock worth $765,917,000 after purchasing an additional 40,313 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $715,084,000 after buying an additional 123,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company's stock worth $459,416,000 after buying an additional 1,021,498 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on NVO. StockNews.com cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. 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 raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. They issued an "underperform" rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $135.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Shares of NVO opened at $58.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $261.94 billion, a PE ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.98. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $57.00 and a 1-year 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 return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. As a group, analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Novo Nordisk A/S's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.54%.

Novo Nordisk A/S Profile

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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