Westpac Banking Corp Acquires 12,068 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Westpac Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,746 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,068 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $6,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.8% in the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. 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. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Three research 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 MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

NVO opened at $68.20 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap 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. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12 month low of $66.88 and a 12 month high of $148.15.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

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

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.