Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY – Get Rating) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $93.50.

Several research analysts recently commented on SNY shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sanofi from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Sanofi from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Sanofi from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Sanofi from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 27th.

Sanofi Stock Down 0.2 %

SNY stock opened at $52.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $132.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57. Sanofi has a 1 year low of $36.91 and a 1 year high of $57.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.45.

Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.60 billion. Sanofi had a net margin of 15.41% and a return on equity of 28.45%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sanofi will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sanofi Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a $1.377 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 2.94%. Sanofi’s payout ratio is currently 45.16%.

Institutional Trading of Sanofi

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNY. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Sanofi by 17.0% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,282,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,267,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,387,606 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Sanofi by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,246,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $883,966,000 after buying an additional 523,705 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Sanofi by 17.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 10,626,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,318,000 after buying an additional 1,541,832 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sanofi by 2.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,047,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $546,804,000 after buying an additional 249,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Sanofi by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,733,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,513,000 after buying an additional 1,251,199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 10.04% of the company’s stock.

About Sanofi

(Get Rating)

Sanofi engages in the research, production, and distribution of pharmaceutical products. It operates through the following business segments: Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Healthcare, and Vaccines. The Pharmaceuticals segment comprises the commercial operations of the following global franchises: specialty care, diabetes and cardiovascular, established prescription products and generics, and research, development, and production activities.