Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $77.87, but opened at $82.10. Novo Nordisk A/S shares last traded at $82.46, with a volume of 3,002,681 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on NVO shares. 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. UBS Group raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a market cap of $376.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $86.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date 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 payout ratio is 21.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,117,790,000 after buying an additional 5,556,460 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter worth about $404,910,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,571,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,397,000 after buying an additional 2,947,771 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 73.2% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,244,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,189,000 after buying an additional 2,639,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter worth about $158,657,000. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.