Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Lowers Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 192,468 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,372 shares during the period. Novo Nordisk A/S makes up 1.0% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $19,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVO. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 100.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 23,419,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,129,761,000 after buying an additional 11,727,507 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 122.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,077,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,098,328,000 after buying an additional 6,654,614 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 96.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,215,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $838,021,000 after buying an additional 4,526,199 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 9,097,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $827,354,000 after buying an additional 4,350,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 3rd quarter valued at about $718,995,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $163.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.60.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NVO stock traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $126.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,312,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,307,405. The stock has a market capitalization of $569.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.41. Novo Nordisk A/S has a one year low of $75.56 and a one year high of $138.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $9.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.14 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 90.36% and a net margin of 36.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.664 dividend. This is a positive change from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.22. This represents a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.17%.

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.