Kestra Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 196.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 121.4% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NVO stock opened at $83.79 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $86.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.48. 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 company has a market capitalization of $376.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.45. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 12-month low of $77.82 and a 12-month 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, topping 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, analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.7874 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. 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%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.88%.

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.