Franklin Resources Inc. Has $42.76 Million Position in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) by 43.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 497,081 shares of the company’s stock after selling 378,761 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $42,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 4.3% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 3,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Center for Financial Planning Inc. grew 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,987,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVO has been the topic of several research reports. 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVO opened at $62.58 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1 year low of $62.37 and a 1 year high of $148.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $280.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.61.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.7874 dividend. This is an increase from Novo Nordisk A/S’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.51. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Novo Nordisk A/S’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.