Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Acquired by Knuff & Co LLC

Knuff & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 111.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,074 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,953 shares during the quarter. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $1,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the fourth quarter worth $404,910,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,311,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,615,000 after purchasing an additional 692,567 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 75.1% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,052,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,477,000 after purchasing an additional 451,641 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the third quarter worth $42,017,000. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,007,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,678,000 after purchasing an additional 286,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $78.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.04. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $73.28 and a 52-week high of $148.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $350.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.7874 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. 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 (DPR) is 47.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NVO shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

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.