Parnassus Investments LLC Acquires New Shares in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 593,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,072,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,498 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $299,000. Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $248,000. DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter valued at $491,000. Finally, Balboa Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 442.4% in the 4th quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 10,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 8,764 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on NVO. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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 research report on Monday, December 23rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:NVO opened at $75.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $339.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. Novo Nordisk A/S has a twelve month low of $73.80 and a twelve month high of $148.15. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $84.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 84.68%. As a group, analysts expect 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 disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.7874 dividend. This is a boost from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.72%.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company Profile

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.