Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Sold by Boston Financial Mangement LLC

Boston Financial Mangement LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,411 shares of the company’s stock after selling 896 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $1,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,031,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,588,000 after acquiring an additional 40,475 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,074,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,125,000 after acquiring an additional 80,070 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,007,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,678,000 after acquiring an additional 286,912 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 10,608.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,813,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.6% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,362,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,266,000 after acquiring an additional 47,496 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NVO. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

Shares of NVO opened at $83.79 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $86.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.48. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $77.82 and a 12-month high of $148.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.7874 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.88%.

Novo Nordisk A/S 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.