Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Down 1.6%

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) traded down 1.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $124.48 and last traded at $124.92. 990,557 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 4,261,214 shares. The stock had previously closed at $126.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on NVO shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Novo Nordisk A/S from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Argus raised their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $125.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $156.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $145.17.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 1.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $558.83 billion, a PE ratio of 43.08, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $132.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.06). Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 87.43% and a net margin of 34.86%. The business had revenue of $9.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.91 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.5126 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a yield of 0.7%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is currently 24.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Folketrygdfondet boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,756,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,124,275,000 after purchasing an additional 124,770 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 10.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,589,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,102,857,000 after buying an additional 823,036 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,114,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,121,000 after buying an additional 1,297,536 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,254,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,242,000 after acquiring an additional 58,935 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 654.6% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,633,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,485,000 after acquiring an additional 3,151,584 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

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.