Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Holdings Lifted by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 113.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 43,776 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,238 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $3,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NVO. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,117,790,000 after purchasing an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $995,397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,947,771 shares in the last quarter. Folketrygdfondet increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,917,000 after acquiring an additional 40,313 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,416,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter valued at $404,910,000. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 2.1 %

Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $68.00 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.68. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52 week low of $66.88 and a 52 week high of $148.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $305.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is presently 47.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NVO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

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.