Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 86,103 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,140,714 shares of the company’s stock after selling 86,103 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $305,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 654.6% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,633,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,485,000 after purchasing an additional 3,151,584 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 257,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,593,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,303 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,114,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $736,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297,536 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1,300.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,244,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 10.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,589,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,102,857,000 after acquiring an additional 823,036 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Argus upped their price objective on Novo Nordisk A/S from $125.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $145.17.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:NVO opened at $119.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $534.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $131.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $132.87. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1 year low of $86.96 and a 1 year high of $148.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.91 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.5126 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a yield of 0.7%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.83%.

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.