Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Trading Down 1.5% - Time to Sell?

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) traded down 1.5% on Monday . The company traded as low as $74.89 and last traded at $75.69. 3,263,445 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 5,413,693 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVO has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped 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 report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Three 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Remove Ads

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $82.52 and a 200 day moving average of $99.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVO. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,332,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165,955 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,117,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,556,460 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,947,771 shares during the period. Folketrygdfondet lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company's stock worth $765,917,000 after acquiring an additional 40,313 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,312,996 shares of the company's stock valued at $715,084,000 after acquiring an additional 123,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company's stock.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company 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.