Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Trims Holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. cut its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,569 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,850 shares during the quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $3,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC grew its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.3% in the third 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. increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.1% in the third 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 last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Finally, Center for Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.4% in the 4th quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report 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 Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NYSE:NVO opened at $73.57 on Wednesday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a twelve month low of $73.20 and a twelve month high of $148.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $330.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.94.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders 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 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. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.72%.

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.