Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.79 Per Share

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) announced a semi-annual dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.7874 per share on Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51.

Novo Nordisk A/S has increased its dividend payment by an average of 25.1% annually over the last three years. Novo Nordisk A/S has a payout ratio of 22.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Novo Nordisk A/S to earn $3.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.03 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.5%.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NYSE NVO traded up $1.43 during trading on Thursday, reaching $87.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,501,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,570,056. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12 month low of $78.17 and a 12 month high of $148.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $92.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $391.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.45.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 86.32% and a net margin of 35.03%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on NVO. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

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.