Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on NVO. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $77.94 on Wednesday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a one year low of $77.82 and a one year high of $148.15. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $89.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $349.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.45.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in 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. purchased a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter valued at about $404,910,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 10,608.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,813,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,283,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,451,000 after buying an additional 1,602,549 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

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.