Guardian Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 127,391 Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 127,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,910,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marco Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% in the third quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 6,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $798,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 11,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, M. Kulyk & Associates LLC raised its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 2.4 %

Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $76.88 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.98. 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 has a 12 month low of $73.80 and a 12 month high of $148.15. The stock has a market cap of $344.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS 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 forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This represents a yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. 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. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

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.