Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Reaches New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $66.88 and last traded at $69.58, with a volume of 6821438 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $69.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NVO shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on 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, StockNews.com downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.47. The company has a market capitalization of $306.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its 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 return on equity of 84.68% and a net margin of 34.81%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novo Nordisk A/S

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NVO. Marotta Asset Management raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 16,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 45.9% during the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 5,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 10,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter worth approximately $389,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 135.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 830,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,434,000 after purchasing an additional 477,557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

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.