Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Stock Price Up 2.7% - Time to Buy?

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 2.7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $80.92 and last traded at $80.84. 3,163,570 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 6,964,540 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. 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 note on Thursday, April 17th. Dbs Bank cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $67.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.63. The company has a market capitalization of $358.57 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.92. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 84.68%. The company had revenue of $11.87 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,332,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165,955 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted 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 period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted 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 period. Folketrygdfondet boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 6.9% during the first quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 9,521,912 shares of the company's stock worth $661,202,000 after purchasing an additional 617,974 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,312,996 shares of the company's stock valued at $715,084,000 after acquiring an additional 123,681 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.