Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,483,769 shares of the company's stock after selling 159,635 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP's holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $127,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC grew its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the company's stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. grew its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 293 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 4,984 shares of the company's stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,987,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indie Asset Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Indie Asset Partners LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the company's stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NVO shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $64.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $135.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NVO stock traded up $1.37 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.53. 9,236,269 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,151,260. The firm has a market cap of $298.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $72.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.69. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given 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 was Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.