Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 3.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,065 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,333 shares during the quarter. Novo Nordisk A/S accounts for 1.1% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $4,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVO. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC now owns 180 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on NVO. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.50.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NYSE:NVO traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $113.38. The company had a trading volume of 4,564,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,288,053. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $126.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.28. The firm has a market cap of $508.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.09, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52 week low of $92.94 and a 52 week high of $148.15.

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

Novo Nordisk A/S Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.5126 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.7%. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is 24.83%.

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.