Avalon Trust Co Acquires 689 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Avalon Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,061 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 689 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the third quarter worth about $297,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 33.2% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 940 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 12.8% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 18,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,168,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 69,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,194,000 after buying an additional 2,494 shares during the period. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.5% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Up 1.8 %

NVO stock opened at $77.22 on Friday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a fifty-two week low of $73.80 and a fifty-two week high of $148.15. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $83.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $346.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. As a group, analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.7874 per share. 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. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is 47.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

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.