WCM Investment Management LLC Purchases 40,475 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,031,124 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 40,475 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $345,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the third quarter worth approximately $48,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 196.8% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 469 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 121.4% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:NVO opened at $86.39 on Friday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12 month low of $78.17 and a 12 month high of $148.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.51. The firm has a market cap of $387.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.45.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued 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, research analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.86 EPS 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 is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is currently 21.88%.

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.