Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Invests $1.22 Million in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Key Points

• Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board invested $1.22 million in Novo Nordisk A/S, acquiring 17,581 shares of the company's stock during the 1st quarter.
• Analysts have recently downgraded Novo Nordisk, with BMO Capital Markets and Guggenheim revising their ratings, resulting in a current consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $93.67.
• Novo Nordisk A/S recently posted earnings of $0.97 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and announced a semi-annual dividend of $0.4119 per share.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 17,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,221,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,492,384 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,332,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165,955 shares during the period. Folketrygdfondet lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 6.9% during the first quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 9,521,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $661,202,000 after purchasing an additional 617,974 shares during the period. 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 purchasing an additional 2,639,693 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 11.3% during 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. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.8% during the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,543,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $384,923,000 after buying an additional 202,443 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on NVO. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Dbs Bank cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $64.00 target price (down from $105.00) on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.67.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVO traded up $2.30 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.06. The stock had a trading volume of 23,312,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,928,642. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.14 and a 200-day moving average of $71.54. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $45.05 and a 12-month high of $139.74. The company has a market capitalization of $227.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.63.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $11.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.51 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4119 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a yield of 240.0%. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.05%.

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.