V Square Quantitative Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 32.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,654 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,374 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $851,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NVO. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 10,608.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,813,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,942,000 after buying an additional 1,796,635 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the third quarter valued at $98,765,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $90,477,000 after purchasing an additional 451,641 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the third quarter valued at $42,017,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 2,655.9% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 280,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,388,000 after purchasing an additional 270,234 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE NVO opened at $77.94 on Friday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $77.82 and a 1-year high of $148.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $89.31 and a 200-day moving average of $110.18. The firm has a market cap of $349.75 billion, a PE ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.45.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This represents a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is currently 21.88%.

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.