Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Up 3.1% – Still a Buy?

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)’s stock price traded up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $79.88 and last traded at $79.58. 1,699,065 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 5,385,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NVO shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut 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 note on Monday, December 23rd. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Up 1.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $363.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.98.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This is a positive change from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NVO. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,492,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,332,655,000 after buying an additional 1,165,955 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,556,460 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,571,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $995,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,771 shares during the period. Folketrygdfondet raised its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,917,000 after purchasing an additional 40,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,312,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,084,000 after purchasing an additional 123,681 shares during the period. 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.