Novo Nordisk A/S Plans Semi-annual Dividend of $0.41 (NYSE:NVO)

Key Points

• Novo Nordisk A/S announced a semi-annual dividend of $0.41 per share, with an ex-dividend date of August 18th, reflecting a huge dividend yield of 240.0%.
• The company's dividend payout ratio is 48.5%, indicating that earnings sufficiently cover their dividend payments, with expectations to maintain this in the coming fiscal year.
• Novo Nordisk’s stock price increased 7.5% on August 7th, reaching $48.76, with the company reporting a quarterly EPS of $0.97, surpassing analyst expectations.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) declared a semi-annual dividend on Thursday, August 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of 0.4119 per share on Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a dividend yield of 240.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th.

Novo Nordisk A/S has a dividend payout ratio of 48.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Novo Nordisk A/S to earn $4.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.29 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.1%.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 7.5%

NYSE NVO traded up $3.38 on Thursday, reaching $48.76. The stock had a trading volume of 40,366,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,252,460. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $45.05 and a 12-month high of $139.74.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 80.94% and a net margin of 34.52%. The firm had revenue of $11.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.51 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. They set an "underperform" rating for the company. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.67.

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.

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