Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Shares Purchased by Fortis Capital Management LLC

Fortis Capital Management LLC grew its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 31.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 45,888 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,039 shares during the period. Fortis Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $3,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the fourth quarter worth about $404,910,000. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,340,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,498 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,311,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,615,000 after purchasing an additional 692,567 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,072,000. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,052,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,477,000 after buying an additional 451,641 shares during the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on NVO. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NVO opened at $76.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $344.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1-year low of $73.80 and a 1-year high of $148.15.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS 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. This is an increase 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%.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company Profile

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.