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One area where this pharmaceutical company’s<\/a> foundation shows up is in its dividend payout ratio. Despite falling behind Eli Lilly in the GLP-1 weight-loss drug space, Novo Nordisk’s trailing 12-month payout ratio is a very comfortable 40%. In fact, it has never risen above 50%, even during the deep 2007 to 2009 recession.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the dividend yield is well above the market at 3.9%. For reference, the average pharmaceutical stock has a yield of 1.7%. So the high yield here is well supported, and that’s largely thanks to the company’s strong diabetes business.<\/p>\n That said, investors shouldn’t ignore that Novo Nordisk is also a GLP-1 drug stock<\/a>. Eli Lilly has taken the lead, but Novo Nordisk remains an important player in the new drug niche. Notably, it recently launched the first GLP-1 pill, which should help it regain market share from Eli Lilly, at least in the short term. People prefer pills over shots, for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n The takeaway from Novo Nordisk’s development of a GLP-1 pill is that it remains an innovative drug maker. The excitement around weight-loss drugs is so high that investors may be overlooking the company’s long-term opportunities and fundamental business strengths. All Wall Street is seeing is the fact that Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs are performing better in the market right now.<\/p>\n Novo Nordisk’s strong core business and ongoing innovation in a newly developing drug niche suggest this financially strong dividend stock is an attractive holding, no matter what the market is doing. Indeed, consumers are still going to need insulin during a bear market and people will probably still be looking to lose weight, too.<\/p>\n Before you buy stock in Novo Nordisk, consider this:<\/p>\n The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the\u00a010 best stocks<\/a> for investors to buy now\u2026 and Novo Nordisk wasn\u2019t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.<\/p>\n Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you\u2019d have $420,864!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you\u2019d have $1,182,210!*<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s worth noting\u00a0Stock Advisor\u2019s total average return is 903% \u2014 a market-crushing outperformance compared to 192% for the S&P 500.\u00a0Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with\u00a0Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.<\/p>\n See the 10 stocks \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n *Stock Advisor returns as of February 25, 2026. <\/p>\n Reuben Gregg Brewer<\/a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n