Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $145.25.

NVO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a 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. 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,074,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,125,000 after buying an additional 80,070 shares during the last quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC now owns 63,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,482,000 after buying an additional 19,870 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 358.8% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 38,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,346,000 after buying an additional 30,420 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC purchased a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,066,000. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $89.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1 year low of $77.82 and a 1 year high of $148.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $84.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.30. The stock has a market cap of $402.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.45.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 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 announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.7874 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost 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 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.