Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 3,238,317 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 33.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,345,118 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,238,317 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $545,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $274,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. raised its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.4% in the 4th 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. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indie Asset Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Indie Asset Partners LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NVO. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $64.00 price target (down from $105.00) on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NVO stock opened at $62.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $74.03 and a 200-day moving average of $90.18. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $57.00 and a 52-week high of $148.15. The stock has a market cap of $280.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.7874 dividend. This is a positive change 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 payout ratio is currently 49.54%.

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.