Principal Securities Inc. Grows Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,787 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 708 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $4,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVO. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 654.6% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,633,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,485,000 after buying an additional 3,151,584 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 10,608.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,813,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,942,000 after buying an additional 1,796,635 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 257,816.0% in the second quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,593,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,303 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 1,300.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,244,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the third quarter worth approximately $98,765,000. 11.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE NVO opened at $111.96 on Friday. Novo Nordisk A/S has a one year low of $94.73 and a one year high of $148.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $124.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $502.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.34, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.42.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.06). Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 34.86% and a return on equity of 87.43%. The business had revenue of $9.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.91 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.5126 per share. This represents a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is currently 24.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $160.00 to $156.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $144.50.

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.