Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $145.25.

Several research analysts have recently commented on NVO shares. 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of 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.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Shares of NVO opened at $76.88 on Monday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $73.80 and a 1-year high of $148.15. The stock has a market cap of $344.98 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.74. 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 (NYSE:NVO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.7874 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is currently 47.72%.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 62,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,410,000 after buying an additional 23,223 shares during the last quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,066,000. 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.