Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Lowered to Hold Rating by Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

NVO has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

NVO opened at $89.42 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $401.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.45. Novo Nordisk A/S has a fifty-two week low of $77.82 and a fifty-two week high of $148.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $84.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.7874 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVO. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,492,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,655,000 after buying an additional 1,165,955 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,117,790,000 after buying an additional 5,556,460 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings 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 worth $995,397,000 after buying an additional 2,947,771 shares in the last quarter. Folketrygdfondet boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,917,000 after buying an additional 40,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,312,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,084,000 after buying an additional 123,681 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.