Investors Purchase Large Volume of Novo Nordisk A/S Call Options (NYSE:NVO)

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 104,911 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 45% compared to the typical daily volume of 72,123 call options.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NYSE NVO opened at $59.15 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $55.40 and its 200-day moving average is $64.13. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $45.05 and a 12-month high of $120.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $264.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.68.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.51 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 35.60% and a return on equity of 78.64%. Sell-side analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.4119 per share. This represents a yield of 240.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is 22.53%.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,885,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,303,466,000 after acquiring an additional 63,341 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 12,576,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,998,000 after acquiring an additional 187,789 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 301,443.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 10,005,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $690,560,000 after acquiring an additional 10,001,898 shares during the period. Folketrygdfondet increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 9,521,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $661,202,000 after acquiring an additional 617,974 shares during the period. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 6,192,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,416,000 after acquiring an additional 649,390 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on NVO shares. Dbs Bank raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. HSBC set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.50.

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.