Avestar Capital LLC Sells 2,146 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Avestar Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 23.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,052 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,146 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 10,608.4% during 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 buying an additional 1,796,635 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $98,765,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,052,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,477,000 after acquiring an additional 451,641 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,017,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2,655.9% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 280,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,388,000 after purchasing an additional 270,234 shares during the period. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE:NVO opened at $78.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.40. Novo Nordisk A/S has a one year low of $78.17 and a one year high of $148.15. The firm has a market cap of $353.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.7874 dividend. 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is presently 21.88%.

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.