Graney & King LLC Acquires New Stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Graney & King LLC bought a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,117,790,000 after purchasing an additional 5,556,460 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the fourth quarter worth approximately $404,910,000. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,416,000 after buying an additional 1,021,498 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,311,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,615,000 after acquiring an additional 692,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter worth $51,072,000. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

NYSE NVO opened at $71.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $321.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.75. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $70.39 and a 52-week high of $148.15.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.7874 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is 47.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NVO shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

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.