Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Up 3.6% - Here's Why

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) rose 3.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $62.43 and last traded at $62.05. Approximately 3,635,751 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 6,032,346 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVO has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a 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 note on Thursday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered Novo Nordisk A/S to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $135.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 0.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $278.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.7874 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Novo Nordisk A/S's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio is 49.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company's stock worth $1,117,790,000 after buying an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the fourth quarter worth approximately $404,910,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 73.2% during the 4th 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. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter valued at $158,657,000. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company's stock.

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.