Capital Investment Counsel Inc Reduces Stock Holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc reduced its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 23.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 196.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 469 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings 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 worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. 11.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on NVO. BNP Paribas raised Novo Nordisk A/S to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. 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. UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

NYSE NVO opened at $83.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $376.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.45. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $86.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.48. Novo Nordisk A/S has a fifty-two week low of $77.82 and a fifty-two week high of $148.15.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last released 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%. Sell-side 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 business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.7874 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. Novo Nordisk A/S’s payout ratio is currently 21.88%.

Novo Nordisk A/S 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.