Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Down 2% – Should You Sell?

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) fell 2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $75.52 and last traded at $77.24. 1,934,079 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 5,402,288 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NVO. BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Kepler Capital Markets raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 2.4 %

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 business’s 50 day moving average is $83.34 and its 200 day moving average is $100.98. The stock has a market cap of $344.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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, equities 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 business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.7874 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.2%. 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. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NVO. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,790,000 after acquiring 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 worth 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 worth $995,397,000 after buying an additional 2,947,771 shares during the period. 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 worth $537,189,000 after buying an additional 2,639,693 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter worth about $158,657,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

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.