Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Rating Increased to Buy at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. HSBC currently has $70.00 target price on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Novo Nordisk A/S from $105.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.50.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NYSE:NVO opened at $59.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $266.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.84. Novo Nordisk A/S has a twelve month low of $45.05 and a twelve month high of $120.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $11.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.51 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 78.64% and a net margin of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.4119 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 240.0%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio is 22.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Unified Investment Management bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S in the second quarter worth $692,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 15,919.9% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,044,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,523,000 after buying an additional 1,038,137 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 216.3% in the second quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 96,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,649,000 after buying an additional 65,877 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 48.7% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 103,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,119,000 after buying an additional 33,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 205.4% in the second quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 6,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 4,457 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.