Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Bought by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 285,791 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,833 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $24,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. Phoenix Financial Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 19,140 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,647,000 after acquiring an additional 5,220 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 45.9% during the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 5,557 shares of the company's stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 1,749 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 12,650 shares of the company's stock worth $1,092,000 after purchasing an additional 4,866 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted 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 worth $715,084,000 after buying an additional 123,681 shares during the period. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 72,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,276,000 after buying an additional 6,560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NVO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NVO traded up $1.01 during trading on Monday, reaching $65.74. 4,006,222 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,806,882. The stock has a market cap of $295.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Novo Nordisk A/S has a twelve month low of $59.32 and a twelve month high of $148.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.34.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.7874 per share. 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 was Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S's payout ratio is 49.54%.

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.