Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Novo Nordisk's stock gapped up significantly after receiving an upgrade from Rothschild Redburn, changing its rating from hold to strong-buy, and opened trading at $61.84.
• A total of nine research firms have recently provided ratings on Novo Nordisk, resulting in one strong buy, six buy, and eleven hold ratings, indicating a diverse outlook amongst analysts.
• Despite a dividend payout ratio of 22.53%, Novo Nordisk cut its dividend recently, with stockholders receiving $0.4119 per share, like recorded on August 26th.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Rothschild Redb upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $58.20, but opened at $61.84. Novo Nordisk A/S shares last traded at $61.89, with a volume of 9,312,905 shares traded.

NVO has been the subject of a number of other reports. HSBC cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Novo Nordisk A/S from $105.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. One equities 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVO. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 15,919.9% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,044,658 shares of the company's stock worth $72,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,137 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 20,742 shares of the company's stock worth $1,440,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,539 shares of the company's stock worth $4,412,000 after buying an additional 5,898 shares during the period. Eldred Rock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.0% in the 2nd quarter. Eldred Rock Partners LLC now owns 165,219 shares of the company's stock worth $11,403,000 after buying an additional 69,184 shares during the period. Finally, Martin Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 261.5% in the 2nd quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC now owns 76,448 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,276,000 after purchasing an additional 55,298 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.54% of the company's stock.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 0.6%

The company has a market cap of $274.37 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $56.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.26.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 78.64% and a net margin of 35.60%.The company had revenue of $11.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.51 billion. Sell-side analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued 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

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.