Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Trading Down 1% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) dropped 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $114.50 and last traded at $114.57. Approximately 1,268,183 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 4,270,885 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVO has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $160.00 to $156.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.50.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $513.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $127.52 and a 200 day moving average of $131.50.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.06). Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 87.43% and a net margin of 34.86%. The company had revenue of $9.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.91 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,151,584 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 10,608.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 257,816.0% during the second quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,593,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,516,000 after buying an additional 1,593,303 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1,300.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,244,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,703,000 after buying an additional 1,155,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $98,765,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.