Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Free Report) in a research report report published on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $163.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an overweight rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a neutral rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $133.60.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

NVO traded down $0.88 on Friday, reaching $124.52. The company had a trading volume of 3,310,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,987,559. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.38. The company has a market cap of $558.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.82. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $75.56 and a 52-week high of $138.28.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $9.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.14 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 36.03% and a return on equity of 90.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.664 dividend. This is a boost from Novo Nordisk A/S's previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 0.9%. Novo Nordisk A/S's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 100.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 23,419,405 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,129,761,000 after acquiring an additional 11,727,507 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 122.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,077,501 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,098,328,000 after buying an additional 6,654,614 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 11,814,051 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,222,164,000 after buying an additional 210,087 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 96.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,215,098 shares of the company's stock valued at $838,021,000 after buying an additional 4,526,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 9,097,808 shares of the company's stock valued at $827,354,000 after buying an additional 4,350,862 shares in the last quarter. 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.