Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $75.46, but opened at $77.99. Novo Nordisk A/S shares last traded at $78.68, with a volume of 2,825,003 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on NVO. Guggenheim cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $64.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. They set an "underperform" rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $112.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 1.4%

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $67.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.82. The firm has a market cap of $358.57 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 84.68%. The business had revenue of $11.87 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVO. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company's stock worth $1,117,790,000 after purchasing an additional 5,556,460 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the first quarter worth $370,272,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter worth $404,910,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,571,686 shares of the company's stock worth $995,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.54% of the company's stock.

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.