Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Upgraded at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on NVO. TD Cowen cut their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $105.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. HSBC cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

Shares of NVO opened at $54.29 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.74. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $45.05 and a 12-month high of $138.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $11.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.51 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 78.64% and a net margin of 35.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NVO. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 148.4% during the fourth quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 38,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 23,000 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 95,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,179,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares during the period. MayTech Global Investments LLC grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 48.4% during the fourth quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC now owns 377,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,494,000 after acquiring an additional 123,200 shares during the period. Finally, Obermeyer Wealth Partners grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 130,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,192,000 after acquiring an additional 15,220 shares during the period. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.