Busey Bank Increases Position in Novo Nordisk A/S $NVO

Key Points

• Busey Bank increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, owning 121,639 shares valued at approximately $8.4 million by the end of the reporting period.
• Several institutional investors significantly boosted their holdings in Novo Nordisk, with Kingstone Capital Partners increasing its stake by an astonishing 301,443.6% during the same quarter.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Novo Nordisk's stock, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $81.00 per share.

Busey Bank raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 121,639 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,106 shares during the period. Busey Bank's holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $8,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 301,443.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 10,005,216 shares of the company's stock worth $690,560,000 after buying an additional 10,001,898 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 1st quarter worth approximately $370,272,000. Amundi increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 4,938,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $331,576,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627,051 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 15,919.9% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,044,658 shares of the company's stock worth $72,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,137 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 118.4% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,594,544 shares of the company's stock valued at $110,725,000 after acquiring an additional 864,579 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

NYSE NVO traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $61.45. The company had a trading volume of 12,824,513 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,091,512. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $274.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.78. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52 week low of $45.05 and a 52 week high of $129.48.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 35.60% and a return on equity of 78.64%. The firm had revenue of $11.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.51 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.4119 per share. This represents a dividend 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

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.