Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Up 2.1%

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) shot up 2.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $127.95 and last traded at $127.87. 995,535 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 4,819,986 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on NVO. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $163.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.60.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $126.72 and its 200-day moving average is $111.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $566.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.65, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.41.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.14 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 36.03% and a return on equity of 90.36%. Analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.664 per share. This is a positive change from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a dividend yield of 0.9%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NVO. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 100.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 23,419,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,129,761,000 after buying an additional 11,727,507 shares in the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the third quarter worth $718,995,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 122.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,077,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,098,328,000 after buying an additional 6,654,614 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 96.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,215,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $838,021,000 after buying an additional 4,526,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 91.7% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 9,097,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $827,354,000 after buying an additional 4,350,862 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.