Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $61.50.

SNY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $56.00 price target on Sanofi in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Sanofi in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Hsbc Global Res raised Sanofi to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Sanofi in a research report on Friday, March 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Sanofi in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SNY. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Sanofi by 88.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,843,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,991,000 after purchasing an additional 5,091,304 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sanofi in the first quarter valued at about $177,831,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sanofi in the fourth quarter valued at about $135,933,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Sanofi by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,396,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,607,000 after purchasing an additional 2,501,073 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sanofi by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 3,340,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705,148 shares during the period. 14.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sanofi Price Performance

SNY opened at $50.47 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $51.71 and a 200 day moving average of $52.00. Sanofi has a 52-week low of $45.80 and a 52-week high of $60.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $123.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.50.

Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.04. Sanofi had a return on equity of 25.61% and a net margin of 12.77%. The business had revenue of $10.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sanofi will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Sanofi Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $2.0369 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Sanofi’s previous annual dividend of $1.48. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. Sanofi’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

About Sanofi

Sanofi, a healthcare company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of therapeutic solutions in the United States, Europe, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare segments. The company provides specialty care, such as DUPIXENT, neurology and immunology, rare diseases, oncology, and rare blood disorders; medicines for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; and established prescription products.