Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Trading Down 1.6% – Here’s What Happened

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)’s stock price was down 1.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $79.61 and last traded at $79.69. Approximately 1,245,116 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 5,392,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NVO. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Kepler Capital Markets raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Down 2.6 %

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 firm has a market capitalization of $353.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.98.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVO. GQG Partners LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 5,556,460 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter valued at about $404,910,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,244,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,189,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter valued at about $158,657,000. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company Profile

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.