Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $78.79, but opened at $75.96. Novo Nordisk A/S shares last traded at $76.11, with a volume of 1,273,266 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, 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. Three equities 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $344.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.40, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued 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 return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. As a group, analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This represents a dividend 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 47.72%.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NVO. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 104.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at $357,000. Strategy Asset Managers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 4,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 32,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,874,000 after acquiring an additional 4,489 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 55.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 7,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,582 shares during the period. 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.