Blair William & Co. IL Sells 15,720 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 19.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,973 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,720 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $5,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of NVO. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.3% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on NVO. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Down 1.1 %

Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $69.36 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $82.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.64. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $67.75 and a 1-year high of $148.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its quarterly 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 forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued 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 (DPR) is currently 47.72%.

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.