Novo Nordisk A/S $NVO Shares Purchased by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 7.2%, now owning 403,391 shares valued at $28 million.
• Analyst ratings show mixed sentiments, with three analysts recommending a Buy, while eleven rated it Hold and two issued a Sell rating, indicating a consensus price target of $81.00.
• Novo Nordisk A/S reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.97, surpassing estimates, and recently declared a dividend of $0.4119 per share for investors.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 403,391 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 26,935 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $28,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 1st quarter worth about $370,272,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,244,931 shares of the company's stock valued at $537,189,000 after buying an additional 2,639,693 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter worth approximately $158,657,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,492,384 shares of the company's stock worth $1,332,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,689,098 shares of the company's stock valued at $403,356,000 after acquiring an additional 991,022 shares during the period. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. HSBC lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of NVO opened at $56.8910 on Monday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a one year low of $45.05 and a one year high of $139.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $254.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.63.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 78.64% and a net margin of 35.60%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.4119 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a yield of 240.0%. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.53%.

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.

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