Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Has $499,000 Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC cut its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 47.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,799 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,225 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NVO. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,790,000 after buying an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Folketrygdfondet boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,917,000 after purchasing an additional 40,313 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,498 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter valued at about $404,910,000. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,031,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,588,000 after purchasing an additional 40,475 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NVO opened at $73.57 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $83.01 and its 200-day moving average is $99.94. The firm has a market cap of $330.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $73.20 and a 1-year high of $148.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. Equities research analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

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

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.