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

Shares of Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY – Get Rating) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $93.50.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sanofi

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNY. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sanofi by 289.1% in the 1st quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Sanofi in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sanofi in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sanofi in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Red Tortoise LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sanofi in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 10.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sanofi Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SNY opened at $52.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $54.88 and a 200-day moving average of $51.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Sanofi has a 12 month low of $36.91 and a 12 month high of $57.82.

Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.60 billion. Sanofi had a net margin of 15.41% and a return on equity of 28.45%. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.377 per share. This represents a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 30th. Sanofi’s payout ratio is 45.16%.

About Sanofi

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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.