Holderness Investments Co. Sells 417 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Holderness Investments Co. cut its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,839 shares of the company’s stock after selling 417 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $1,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Folketrygdfondet increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,917,000 after buying an additional 40,313 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,416,000 after buying an additional 1,021,498 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter valued at about $404,910,000. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,031,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,588,000 after buying an additional 40,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,311,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,615,000 after buying an additional 692,567 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on NVO. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NVO stock opened at $78.73 on Friday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $73.80 and a 12-month high of $148.15. The firm has a market cap of $353.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a PEG 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 moving average of $83.53 and a 200-day moving average of $101.66.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 84.68%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

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

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.