Norges Bank Invests $248.81 Million in Insulet Co. (NASDAQ:PODD)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Insulet Co. (NASDAQ:PODD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 953,024 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $248,806,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Insulet by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 8,717 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Insulet by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 770,188 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $201,073,000 after purchasing an additional 149,524 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Insulet by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 111,444 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $29,678,000 after buying an additional 12,206 shares during the period. Trust Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in Insulet in the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Insulet in the 4th quarter valued at about $229,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PODD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Insulet from $264.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $328.00 price target (up previously from $294.00) on shares of Insulet in a report on Friday, February 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Insulet from $304.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered Insulet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Insulet from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Insulet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.06.

Insider Activity at Insulet

In other news, EVP Eric Benjamin sold 12,394 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $3,470,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,187,240. This represents a 52.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Wayne A.I. Frederick sold 1,825 shares of Insulet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $501,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $888,525. This trade represents a 36.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Insulet Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ PODD opened at $258.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $258.75. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Insulet Co. has a 52 week low of $160.19 and a 52 week high of $289.46.

Insulet (NASDAQ:PODD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $597.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $582.02 million. Insulet had a net margin of 20.19% and a return on equity of 24.46%. Equities research analysts predict that Insulet Co. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insulet Profile

Insulet Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells insulin delivery systems for people with insulin-dependent diabetes. The company's Omnipod platform includes the Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery System (Omnipod 5) which includes a proprietary AID algorithm embedded in the Pod that integrates with a third-party continuous glucose monitor to obtain glucose values through wireless bluetooth communication; Omnipod DASH that features a bluetooth enabled Pod that is controlled by a smartphone-like Personal Diabetes Manager with a color touch screen user interface; and Omnipod GO, a standalone, wearable, insulin delivery system that provides a fixed rate of continuous rapid-acting insulin for 72 hours.