AstraZeneca, Novartis Drop into Tuesday's 52-Week Low Club

November 22, 2016: Here are four stocks trading with relatively heavy volume among 38 equities making new 52-week lows in Tuesday’s session. On the NYSE, advancers led decliners by about 2.5 to 1 and on the Nasdaq advancers led decliners by more than 3 to 2.

Patterson Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: PDCO) dropped more than 23% on Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $36.46 against a 52-week high of $50.40 and a Monday close of $47.51. Volume of about 12.8 million was more than 11 times the daily average of around 1.1 million. The distributor of dental and animal health products posted weak quarterly results this morning.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) lost about 3.5% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $26.38 after closing Monday at $27.34. The 52-week high is $35.04. Volume of around 10.6 million was nearly double the daily average of around 5.6 million shares traded. The FDA gave the company permission to resume testing its cancer treatment, but shareholders didn’t seem to care.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO) dropped about 2.3% on Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $31.50 after closing at $32.25 on Monday. The stock’s 52-week high is $59.00. Volume of about 5 million was about 25% above the daily average of around 4 million shares. Late in the day the company’s diabetes drug Xultophy was approved for sale in the U.S. market but the effect on the share price was modest.

Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) dropped about 3.6% on Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $67.64 after closing at $70.13 on Monday. The stock’s 52-week high is $88.49. Volume was about double the daily average of around 2.5 million shares. The drug maker announced this morning that it will acquire Selexys Pharma for as much as $665 million.