Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on NVO. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $145.17.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE:NVO opened at $120.04 on Wednesday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a fifty-two week low of $92.94 and a fifty-two week high of $148.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $538.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.06). Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 34.86% and a return on equity of 87.43%. The firm had revenue of $9.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.91 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.5126 per share. This represents a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Folketrygdfondet raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,756,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,124,275,000 after buying an additional 124,770 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,589,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,102,857,000 after buying an additional 823,036 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,254,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,242,000 after buying an additional 58,935 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 654.6% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,633,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,485,000 after buying an additional 3,151,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,373,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,697,000 after buying an additional 172,003 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company Profile

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.