Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Sold by Ramirez Asset Management Inc.

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 317 shares during the quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $1,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 74.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,994,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,117,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,556,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,571,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,771 shares during the period. Folketrygdfondet raised its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 8,903,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,917,000 after purchasing an additional 40,313 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,416,000 after buying an additional 1,021,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter worth approximately $404,910,000. 11.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to 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 Price Performance

Shares of NVO opened at $70.18 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $82.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $314.93 billion, a PE ratio of 21.33, a P/E/G 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 has a twelve month low of $69.77 and a twelve month high of $148.15.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

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