Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Stock Price Up 1.2% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Novo Nordisk A/S rose 1.2% to $37.97 on Monday, with mid-day volume of ~12.6M shares, about a 45% decline from its ~23.0M average daily volume.
• Analyst coverage is mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus Hold rating with a $65.56 consensus price target, though Sanford C. Bernstein started an Outperform at $175 and Goldman Sachs recently cut its target to $41.
• The company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results (EPS $1.01 vs. $0.90 expected; revenue $12.43B vs. $11.97B), has a market cap of $169.5B and a P/E of 10.94, and recently paid a $1.2751 dividend with a payout ratio around 50%.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) rose 1.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $38.01 and last traded at $37.9690. Approximately 12,596,874 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 23,033,199 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVO has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $175.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $41.00 price target (down from $63.00) on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twenty have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.56.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 1.2%

The stock has a market cap of $169.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94, a PEG ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $41.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.92.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 33.03% and a return on equity of 68.91%. The firm had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.97 billion. On average, analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 30th were issued a $1.2751 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 723.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. Novo Nordisk A/S's payout ratio is presently 50.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NVO. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4,190.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,984,789 shares of the company's stock worth $776,016,000 after acquiring an additional 13,658,867 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,713,424 shares of the company's stock worth $982,969,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092,192 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $310,199,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 99.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,688,262 shares of the company's stock worth $492,940,000 after acquiring an additional 4,836,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 851.6% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 4,807,279 shares of the company's stock worth $244,594,000 after acquiring an additional 4,302,126 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Novo Nordisk A/S

Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, Denmark, best known for its leadership in diabetes care and metabolic health. The company traces its roots to early Danish insulin production in the 1920s and was established in its current form through a 1989 merger of predecessor companies. Novo Nordisk develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and devices that address chronic and serious diseases, with a strong emphasis on long-term treatment and patient support.

The company’s core product portfolio centers on diabetes therapies, including a range of insulins and modern incretin-based treatments.

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