Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Up 1% – Time to Buy?

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) shares traded up 1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $76.64 and last traded at $76.65. 1,672,381 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 8,702,514 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Up 1.7 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.64. The company has a market cap of $346.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.45, 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.7874 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.72%.

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lighthouse Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter valued at $1,811,000. Aegis Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter valued at $479,000. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter worth $540,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 72,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,276,000 after purchasing an additional 6,560 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.