HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,348 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $1,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NVO. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,790,000 after buying an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $995,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,771 shares during the period. Folketrygdfondet boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,917,000 after purchasing an additional 40,313 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the fourth quarter valued at $404,910,000. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NYSE:NVO opened at $69.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Novo Nordisk A/S has a twelve month low of $66.88 and a twelve month high of $148.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its 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 return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

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