A post-earnings price target raise on Novo Nordisk(NYSE: NVO) from an analyst couldn't overcome the drag of a executive's stock sale on Friday. Ultimately, investors ended up trading out of the Danish pharmaceutical company, sending its share price down by nearly 3% on the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index went in the opposite direction, rising by nearly 1%.
Taking the bad with the good
It was a mildly good news/bad news kind of day for Novo Nordisk stock.
The good was that price target lift, modest as it was, which was enacted by Jefferies(NYSE: JEF) prognosticator Peter Welford. Before the market opened, Welford reset his target on the pharmaceutical company to 430 Danish kroner ($61.16) per share, up from the previous 425 kroner ($60.45). Even the new price is well below where the stock trades now. He maintained his underperform (read: sell) recommendation on the stock.
The not-necessarily-good occurrence was the insider sale. Novo Nordisk divulged in a regulatory document that Camilla Sylvest, its head of commercial strategy and corporate affairs, sold 15,000 shares of the company. The sale price was 694.37 kroner ($98.76), making for a total of just over 10.4 million kroner (about $1.5 million).
Neither news item is a big deal
Both developments are fairly minor. Welford's price target change is basically a minor adjustment; the important factor is that he left his bearish view on Novo Nordisk unchanged. And although investors usually don't like to see executives at their companies sell stock, this happens from time to time for a variety of reasons. (Often, the executive just wants/needs a stack of cash for something.)
Neither news item, then, should change any investor's evaluation of the company.
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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Jefferies Financial Group. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
