Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 19.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,035,639 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 169,762 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $71,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 184.8% during the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 393 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts have commented on NVO shares. Dbs Bank raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $81.00.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Novo Nordisk A/S
Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance
NYSE:NVO traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $56.75. 9,034,647 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,742,110. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.66. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $45.05 and a 52-week high of $138.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company's 50 day moving average price is $60.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.04.
Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.51 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 35.60% and a return on equity of 78.64%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.
Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend
The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.4119 per share. This represents a yield of 240.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Novo Nordisk A/S's payout ratio is currently 22.53%.
About Novo Nordisk A/S
(
Free Report)
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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