Folketrygdfondet Purchases 124,770 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Folketrygdfondet boosted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,756,034 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 124,770 shares during the quarter. Novo Nordisk A/S comprises 24.4% of Folketrygdfondet’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Folketrygdfondet’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $1,124,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 245.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 68,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,227,000 after purchasing an additional 48,678 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 121.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 59,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,395,000 after buying an additional 32,551 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 574,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,260,000 after acquiring an additional 287,308 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 100.4% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 244,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,264,000 after acquiring an additional 122,622 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 80.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 47,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,337,000 after acquiring an additional 21,269 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $163.00 target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Tuesday. Argus raised their price objective on Novo Nordisk A/S from $125.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $156.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.67.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S stock traded down $3.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $143.69. The stock had a trading volume of 4,382,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,477,395. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $644.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $133.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.73. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52 week low of $75.56 and a 52 week high of $148.15.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.23 billion. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 91.70% and a net margin of 36.56%. Sell-side analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.