Plancorp LLC Buys 569 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Plancorp LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,534 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the quarter. Plancorp LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Center for Financial Planning Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 196.8% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 469 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 121.4% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on 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. Kepler Capital Markets raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

NVO stock opened at $76.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $83.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.98. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $73.80 and a 52-week high of $148.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $344.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is presently 47.72%.

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.