Phoenix Financial Ltd. Increases Stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 37.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,140 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,220 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $1,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVO. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,017,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 17.1% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 12,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,499,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S during the third quarter worth $258,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.9% in the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 21,448 shares of the company's stock worth $2,554,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 69.8% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 33,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,040,000 after acquiring an additional 13,949 shares during the period. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVO. 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. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an "equal weight" rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVO traded down $1.45 on Tuesday, hitting $64.61. The company had a trading volume of 3,075,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,554,600. 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 company has a market cap of $289.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $59.32 and a 52-week high of $148.15. The business has a 50 day moving average of $77.48 and a 200 day moving average of $92.95.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, 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 firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Novo Nordisk A/S's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio 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.