Dearborn Partners LLC Has $342,000 Stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Dearborn Partners LLC increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,972 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Folketrygdfondet grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,917,000 after acquiring an additional 40,313 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter valued at $404,910,000. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,031,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,588,000 after purchasing an additional 40,475 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,311,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,615,000 after buying an additional 692,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,074,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,125,000 after buying an additional 80,070 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $78.14 on Wednesday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1 year low of $73.50 and a 1 year high of $148.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.04. The company has a market cap of $350.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.75, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.7874 per share. 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 currently 47.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NVO. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. UBS Group raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Profile

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.