Novo Nordisk A/S $NVO Shares Sold by American Trust

Key Points

• American Trust reduced its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 60.5%, selling over 8,200 shares and now owning 5,365 shares valued at approximately $373,000.
• The company's earnings report for the last quarter showed an EPS of $0.97, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.93, with a net margin of 35.60%.
• Novo Nordisk A/S's stock is currently rated as a "Hold" by analysts, with a consensus target price set at $81.00.

American Trust lowered its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) by 60.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,365 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,224 shares during the quarter. American Trust's holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NVO. Folketrygdfondet grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 6.9% during the first quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 9,521,912 shares of the company's stock worth $661,202,000 after acquiring an additional 617,974 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $537,189,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639,693 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 11.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,692,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $395,291,000 after buying an additional 576,900 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,543,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $384,923,000 after acquiring an additional 202,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S during the first quarter worth approximately $370,272,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company's stock.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVO opened at $54.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.66. Novo Nordisk A/S has a one year low of $45.05 and a one year high of $138.22. The company's fifty day moving average is $59.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.16. 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 (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 company had revenue of $11.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $77.51 billion. Analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVO has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Three equities 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $81.00.

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.

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