Lafayette Investments Inc. Raises Stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 48.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,946 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,946 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,571,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,947,771 shares during the last quarter. Folketrygdfondet boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,312,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,084,000 after buying an additional 123,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,498 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Kepler Capital Markets raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

NYSE NVO opened at $66.00 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $77.48 and its 200 day moving average is $92.95. The company has a market capitalization of $296.18 billion, a PE ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61. Novo Nordisk A/S has a fifty-two week low of $59.32 and a fifty-two week high of $148.15. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. Sell-side 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 firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.7874 per share. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.54%.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company 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.