Clearbridge Investments LLC Buys 1,602,549 Shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 59.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,283,317 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,602,549 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $368,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.3% in the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.1% in the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 11,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Center for Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 72.4% in the 4th quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

Novo Nordisk A/S stock opened at $69.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $311.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.89. Novo Nordisk A/S has a fifty-two week low of $69.18 and a fifty-two week high of $148.15.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 84.68%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.7874 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.2%. 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. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is 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.